Where Music Comes to Play

SanDisk Sansa e200 Series Review

The SanDisk Sansa e200 series includes the e250, e260, and e270. The 2GB, 4GB, and 6GB are a new breed of high capacity flash based MP3 player set to compete in features, as well as price, with the Samsung Z5 and iPod Nano. The Sansa e200 has a few advantages over the two, such as a brilliant 1.8” screen, video playback, expandable memory, and a user replaceable batter.

SanDisk, seemingly out of nowhere, has come up with something to shake up the portable audio market. They will be an interesting competitor to watch.

Accessories

Inside the box you will find earphones, lanyard, proprietary USB cable, software disc, protective pouch, and the player itself. It is a nice set of accessories to get you started, most notably the protective neoprene-velvet-esc pouch.

The proprietary connection is a good indication that SanDisk will have other accessories available for this player. SanDisk already makes a speaker dock and car dock with the same proprietary connection for the e100 series. These two items will probably work for this e200 series as well.

Update: SanDisk has created a “Made for Sansa” program and many third party manufacturers and now creating accessories for the e200 player. These include cases, docks, speakers, FM transmitters, and many others.

Transferring Music & Software

SanDisk gave us the best of both worlds by including MTP and UMS transfer protocols, which are switchable in the user settings. MTP gives you the option to automatically sync your media with Windows Media Player 10 and other DRM services. UMS (SanDisk calls it MSC, or Mass Storage Controller) allows you to drag and drop your music onto the player, keeping the folders organized how you want. UMS also means that the Sansa e200 is compatible with virtually all operating systems. When the device is disconnected after using a UMS connections the player automatically updates and sorts the newly transferred songs to the database. The e200 uses ID3 tags for it’s indexing of songs and does not support file tree browsing.

The player will allow the use of both methods simultaneously, so all of your music will show up on the player no matter how you put it on. However, when the device is plugged in as an MTP device you will not be able to see the tracks you loaded via UMS and vice versa.

The e200 comes with Sansa Media Converter software that will convert and transfer photos and video to the device in t
he supported file type. …more on this in the photo and video section below.

Design

Unlike the e200’s smaller sibling, the c100, it feels very solid. The back of the player is made from Liquidmetal and the front is a hard glossy plastic. The plastic is not the same plastic found on the Zen Vision:M or the iPod, which is very susceptible to scratching from normal use. The plastic found on the e200 is much more resistant to scratching. It is not to say it won’t scratch, but it holds up very well for everyday use.

Since the plastic is very glossy it shows fingerprints very easily. Surprisingly the Liquidmetal back shows fingerprints easily as well. It seems to pull the grease out of your hands onto the velvety feeling metal surface.

Screen

The screen is comparable to the Zen Vision:M’s screen- very bright and very crisp, with a very consistent backlight. Overall the colors are produced accurately, but whites tend to get exaggerated and washed. The vertical viewing angle is very good and near 180 degrees, but the horizontal slightly suffers.

The brightness levels can be adjusted to 12 settings. By default it is set right in the middle at 6 which is more than adequate for almost any lighting environment. Setting 12 is very bright, almost too bright for viewing in low light settings.

Taken as a whole, the screen will please almost everyone, being that it is one of the best screens I have seen on an MP3 player.

User Interface

The Controls

All of the controls respond well, but the navigation ring and the center button feel loose. In fact, if you shake the player you can hear the center button rattle. The scroll wheel is great for flipping through hundreds of songs easily, but it doesn’t feel smooth. If you look at the picture of the inside of the wheel you can see that it is basically a gear and it feels that way. You can actually hear the gear turn as you rotate the ring. Everything is durable and works, but it doesn’t feel right.

I don’t hate the controls and they wouldn’t keep me from purchasing the e200, but I think they could have been better. Even a 5 way directional button like on the iAudio MP3 players or even the setup on the Samsung Z5 would have worked better. Additionally, a dedicated volume button would have been great to have on the side.

The GUI

The graphical user interface is very responsive. It moves as fast as you can press the buttons. The menu transitions are animated and slide in and out smoothly. The only time the GUI pauses is when it switches to radio mode or saves a recording, but in general the GUI provides pleasant experience.

Battery

The good news is that the battery is user replaceable. The bad news is it cannot be replaced on the go because you need a small screw driver to take off the back. I still commend SanDisk for making the battery replaceable.

The battery takes 3.5 hours to charge and is rated at playback of 20 hours. I did not do any formal timed testing of the battery, but based on the many other players tested and my informal testing of this unit, you can expect around 15 hours of playback from normal use. These ratings are heavily dependent on many factors of how you use the player. These factors include, file bitrates, file types, screen brightness, photo viewing, track scanning and even file browsing. So take the rated time with a grain of salt.

Inside the Sansa e200

The Sansa e200 uses the PortalPlayer PP5024B SoC (system on chip), which is a newer chip from PortalPlayer designed for flash based MP3 players. What the interesting thing about this chip is, is that PortalPlayer states on the product page that the chip does have the video-out capabilities. Weather or not SanDisk built that functionality into the hardware and firmware is unclear.

Features

FM / FM Recording

The FM reception on the e200 is typical to any portable radio, with an auto program function for quickly flipping though all the available stations in the area. Recording FM is not the greatest. Like the c100 it only records in 32kbps WAV format. This bitrate is not tolerable for listening to music. But this feature will work ok if you want to record your favorite morning radio talk show. The player is missing schedulable recording, but it will allow you to set the duration of recording.

Voice Recording

Voice recording is good, but again it is only recorded in 32kbps WAV format. One problem with recording is that the microphone will pick up mechanical noises from the loose buttons and scroll wheel if you are messing with the player while it is recording. On the left side of the e200 there is a quick record button, which can be nice if you do a lot of voice memos, but I would have liked to see a dedicated volume button instead.

MicroSD / TransFlash Slot

On the left side of the player there is a slot for additional memory. Currently there are 2GB 1GB MicroSD cards available that can bring the total capacity of the e270 to 8GB 7GB of storage. When music is added to the MicroSD card and then inserted, the player automatically indexes the songs, combining them viewed as one media library. When the device is used in MSC mode the MicroSD card will show up as a separate drive; there is no need for a separate card reader. Additionally you can play protected MicroSD cards called Gruvi cards with preloaded content.

Photo

Photos must be transferred to the player via Sansa Media Converter, which converts and downsizes the photos to fit the screen. Browsing photos is very easy with either list view or thumbnail view. Slideshows can be played with music and adjustable slideshow intervals.

Video

The only video type supported natively by the Sansa e200 is QuickTime. The Sansa Media Converter will convert video to the supported QuickTime files. The official supported convertible codes are: Windows AVI, MPEG, Video CD (.DAT), Advance Systems Format (.ASF), DVD (.VOB), QuickTime (.MOV), MPEG-4 (.MP4). DVDs are a snap to get onto the player because it is just a matter of ripping the .VOB file with DVD Decrypter then converting with the Sansa Media Center. I have successfully converted a few XviD and DivX files that played back, but most of them did not play. This somewhat held true for the other officially supported formats, as a few of them did not playback correctly when converted. The video conversion is not perfect.

Video plays back superb without any blocky artifacts; it is not just an extra feature SanDisk through in, and the video is very watchable, even on the 1.8” screen. The video is very smooth despite having a frame rate of only 15 FPS. The audio track is lacking, however. It sounds very flat.

SanDisk used QuickTime probably because it is the only thing that the PortalPlayer chip can play. The QuickTime format is an extremely inefficient antiquated format, compared to new formats today. When SMC converts a 175MB XviD 20 minute file it will result in a 200MB+ QuickTime file with half the pixel size, half the frame rate, and a much lower bitrate audio track. Videos will eat up memory on this player really quick. A 21 minute 42 second TV show will take up 234MB of space or a little over 10MB per minute.

Audio Playback

The audio sounds good for a flash based player. The e200 plays distortion free at its loudest volume with a flat EQ and little to no distortion on a good pair of headphones. The player drives regular headphones and earbuds at more than loud enough volumes. Some heavier duty headphones were loud, but could have been a touch louder. There was some audible “electrical noises” when nothing was playing while navigating through menus or photos. Overall the Sansa e200 is a little better than average in sound quality and will not disappoint.

The e200 is missing one critical audio component, a custom EQ. This is st
range due to the fact that the c100, the lower end model, has a custom EQ. As a matter of fact the e100’s EQ works great. Why SanDisk did not include this is a mystery. There is a possibility that they will add a custom EQ in future firmware updates, but for now you will have to settle for the pre-programmed EQ settings.Custom EQ added in the latest firmware version. Check out the Sansa forums for details.

One last item worth mentioning about the audio playback is the track order. The Sansa e200 disregards any track numbers and just plays the songs in the order it feels like, no matter how you transfer music over, MTP or MSC (UMS). This problem can be fixed in future firmware updates.Issue fixed in the latest firmware

Conclusion

There are a few things I find annoying about the e200. The resume fuction is buggy, the tracks do not play in the correct album order, and there is no custom EQ. All of these are possible to fix in the firmware, so hopefully SanDisk will fix them in the near future. The tactile scroll wheel works but it doesn’t feel right, the controls could have been better with a different type of interface.

Despite those issues, the Sansa e200 series is a very nice player. The build is solid, the screen is bright and crisp, and the battery is replaceable. It is also nice that SanDisk has made this player more manageable by including UMS support so that it can be used with any operating system without the need of any additional drivers. SanDisk seemingly appeared out of nowhere with the e200 series making the company a major contender in the portable MP3 player market.

I don’t have this unit but I’m quite sure it can playback tracks in the same order as they are on an album (assuming the tracks are properly tagged).I have a Sansa M240 and this problem puzzled me for a while until I figured out how to make it work. From the Menu select Play Music/Album or Artist and select the album you want. Do not select Play ALL – instead select the first track and the rest of the tracks will play in the correct order.

This particular review was timely and thorough, with lots of pics to help me with the purchasingdecision. I specially appreciate the detailed yet reasonably sized pics that you have posted so that people with dial up (like myself) can benefit too.

You have proven that this is THE premier site for digital audio player reviews. Once again thank you and keep up the good work.

I recently bought this product online on bestbuys website. It’s coming in 2 days, I can hardly wait to watch and listen to this during schoo…ummmm…i mean work on my school work. Anyways, thanks for all your reviews and opinions.

Thanks for the review.Since the firwmare is not that great, how about starting a Rockbox port for the E200 ?If you guys at ABI have some spare time, could you take high resolution pictures of all the boards and components ? That way we can get the port started even before the E200 hits the stores.Thanks !

You said in the review that “Photos must be transferred to the player via Sansa Media Converter, which converts and downsizes the photos to fit the screen”Q. If you have photos on an SD card from a digital camera, is it possible to transfer them directly onto the internal memory of the e200 by just plugging it in to the player without changing the quality?ThanksJulian

Penfold: It does not have a book mark featureIf you are looking for the e270 it is available now, use the search box under “Purchase” above.Julian: The photos cannot be transferred to the device from the microSD card, nor can they be viewed. This could possibly be added in the firmware. I don’t know for sure.

Have you had any of the hanging problems mentioned by all the user reviews in cnet ?The firmware (both initial and latest version) seems to be very unstable at the moment. BestB*y has even removed the e200 from their website.

Hey dude,Three questions if you don’t mind.1/ You mention that there’s no dedicated volume-control buttons. How do you change volume? Is it a hassle?2/ Also, re the scrollwheel, I gather the blue glowing thingy is the scrollwheel itself and the button in the middle “selects” options. True?3/ I have some Etymotic Research phones and would appreciate any more detail on the sound quality. Are the “electronic noises” distracting? How does the sound compare with a Nano or Samsung’s Z5?Thanks heaps.S.Thanks

I wish those MP3 players were alsready on the market. because I can’t wait no more.I’m sick and tired about these stupid Ipods that I have to lunch the damn software to put my music in and it does not support wma, fuck this shit.

I’ll answer some questions:You mention that there’s no dedicated volume-control buttons. How do you change volume? Is it a hassle?- While a song is playing with the scroll wheel. There’s also a Normal/High option in the Settings menu.Also, re the scrollwheel, I gather the blue glowing thingy is the scrollwheel itself and the button in the middle “selects” options. True?- True. It glows when you scroll with it and turns off about 2 seconds later.How does album art work? Does it work in UMS mode? Thanks!- Somewhat. Some of my album art worked over UMS by ID3-tagging it. Then, I had to transfer the rest over MTP to get it to work. Even then, some album art didn’t work.Now for a question:Anyone else have any problems with getting videos to play even after they are converted and on the player? Because my e260 keeps having the message, “Convert this file with Sansa Media Converter.” or something like that even when I’ve already converted it.The file is 279 megs.

*The “electronic noises” only seem to be audible when the player is not playing music. Its not a major issue. As far as audio quality comparatively, it sounds better than the nano and inline with the Z5.*Volume changing is not a hassle with the scroll wheel, it is just nice to be able to change the volume at ANY time with the dedicated volume buttons. If you are in the middle of scrolling through tracks you will not be able to adjust the volume until you are done.*The Resume function “works” just not very well. It is buggy. I will correct that above.

Can you say a little bit more about the resume function? You say it “works” just not very well…in the review it says no resume function. It’s a very important feature I want on a mp3 player (ebooks etc…) And when I shut it off, I want it to open the exact same place it was when it was turned off (middle of a tune…)So is there one…if yes, what is not working fine?

jk I got this from Best Buy’s website. From what i heard they have since pulled the player from the site as well as the store pending firmware updates.seb When i tested it with the first version of the firmware the resume fuction was not working at all. In the next update it worked about 90% of the time. Somtimes if it is paused and you turn it off it will not resume. Or if you turn it off and on again without playing anyting then turning it off, it will not resume. Resume works it is just buggy and “fragile”However, the player has a feature for hour long mixes and audiobooks that will help you get back to where you were. The player has a “scan though song” fuction that will allow you to seek to the a point in the track by using the scroll wheel.

thanks for answering!Just a few more questions. This player seems really great, and seems to have it all (almost). About the recording…other mp3 players give the option to record in different formats (mp3, wav…)and different quality (32, 128, 256kbps). With this player: “it is only recorded in 32kbps WAV format” Wav format takes a lot more space. so my question is: Can this issue be fixed in an upcoming upgrade of the software. Having the option to record in mp3 would be better! Is this something that can be done? Last, it would have been great to have a line in recording (I would use it a lot) DO you think that they might add it if the demand is there? thanks again for answering my questions!

Hey great reports guys! I just wanted to thank you for the great report! I was so looking forward for something better then the ipod nano and i think i found it.. i am just going to wait until the software problems are fixed…i suppose the 6 gb one will be around 300 euro would it? i pay for it..

Hey Schnupi-dude,The 6gb Sansa is being advertised on some US websites for about US$250, which is 204 Euros, according to the XE.com currency converter.However, You’ll pay about US$40, which is 32 Euro, to get it shipped to Europe.I know all this because I live in South Korea, and the only way for me to buy one is from a US website.Try doing a froogle.com search (“e270″ and “6gb”) and a whole bunch of websites will pop up. Unfortunately, only a few ship overseas, but one or two (eg: neutronexpress.com) do ship overseas.I hope this helps.Scott

By the way, I mentioned neutronexpress.com because it’s the cheapest I’ve found so far, once overseas shipping costs are included.If anyone can find a cheaper price – including overseas shipping – then please let me and Shupi-dude know about it!CheerScotty

hey cool thanks for your help. €204 is damn cheap for a player like that. I hope they will introduce them here in Ireland sooner or later..well we will see. Hopefully that software error gets fixed soon..I honestly can’t wait anymore, I need a mp3 player ahhhhhhhhh

Just a small question. How are the songs sorted in “Play All” view? Are they sorted by artist name, for example? And how is the song name displayed in that view? Is it the basic [artist] – [title], just the title or something else?There are quite many artists with only a couple of songs in my music library so the “Artist” and “Album” views aren’t probably that useful. I’m used to my phone’s Oggplay software where you can sort the songs by artist and playlist is in [artist] – [title] format, and I would like to know if this player behaves in a similar way.

Great review!I’ve seen a review on another site which claims that the expansion slot can’t be used to read/write other types of data (say, documents, spreadsheets, etc), only ‘playable’ ones, thus limiting the posibility of using the device as a microSD/TransFlash drive. Is this true?

I’m pretty sure that they are working on fixing the firmware. They did not ship any more players after they found how buggy their firmware was, and this delay must be costing them a lot of money in lost sales.I contacted their tech support. They told me that they are working on the bugs, but didn’t know when the new firmware will be available.

After upgrading the firmware from .01.00.00 to .01.00.07a it locks up my computer and I am unable to transfer files using Rhapsody. The screen goes blank with alternating vertical stripes and the player hangs. Return product to Best Buy as defective. Also, noticed product pulled from website. Hmm, I wonder why??

Great review and website. Wonderful information. Question – does anyone know if you can use the “random” play mode within a playlist or would the random setting pull from all songs. I’m looking to upgrade from a RIO and the random play mode on it pulls from all songs. I’d like aplayer that will play random from a specific playlist so I don’t have to get a slower song when exercising.

I received my e260 today as a gift and checked the firmware update. It is listed as “01.00.09A”. I’ve been playing around with the unit for onlya few hours but have found no problems with the resume feature. Also, tracks play in the correct order when the albums are dragged to the e260 using Windows Explorer. This unit is simply awesome!

well schnupi i’d love to know as well… now that the firmware has been upgraded, i can’t wait to see it. i’ve been looking for the samsung yp-z5 but i want to see how sandisk respond to that pretty nice mp3 player! Apple defenetly should pull something huge out to keep the 1st place.btw, just a question. is there a difference between the sandisk’s “proprietary connection” and the nano’s? both are the same if i am right?! but i guess i am wrong cuz otherwise everyone would state that as a cons for the nano as well?!

Great review!I think I’m going to buy one of these on my next visit to the US. I can’t wait to get my hands on a 4/6GB version. They look and sound awesome.I might even have it shipped here if they don’t have any problems with it.

Zack: i took mine apart (as you can see) and put it back together without having a dust problem. But i would not dissmiss that. I have seen the dust problem with other players like the Zen Sleek. Anyone else have dust problems?Lo: I think that one reason not to buy it would be the controls. So take some time to play with it at BB and make your own decision. Also the albums not playing in the right order is a big issue, but will be fixed in upcomming firmware updates.

It has some great accessories, but does anyone know if someone sells a belt-clip case or armband to wear for working out? I checked the SanDisk site, and tried Google for a third party source, but couldn’t find anything.Thanks.

Thanks Enzo,Unfortunately BB did not have a working demo. The sales guy claimed that they just received shipments two days ago.I decided what the hell and decided to buy it. Although the wheel is a bit cheap feeling and the side buttons are a bit hard to press and get to… overall I’d say over time you will get used to these small issues.So far I am really impressed with the player itself and like the fact that I can drag and drop songs onto the player. Also songs seem to be playing in the correct order. Make sure you enter the track number in the IDTags.

I take it back haha… when you choose the option to play all under a category it seems to go in a order that is not alphabetical. Not sure how it’s doing it but it must be sorting it somehow with the idtags… anyone figure this out?

Ack. If it’s still buggy, I’m going to hold off on buying this. I really wanted something non-Nano, though! Gah!On a related note, I read on Gizmodo (or Engadget) that there was a sighting in India, of all places, of a big poster that stated 5gb and 10gb Nano’s were on the way. The posters looked legit, apparently, and the guys that spotted it walked into the store and asked the sales guys there about it. They confirmed that the Nano’s were coming, but couldn’t say price.Could be media hype? I dunno.too bad about the e270!

Hey Kalle,I am from Europe myself and trying to buy the Sandisk e270.. unfortunately the retailers had to take back their stock because of a firmware or software problem with the player. All you can do at the moment ist wait until they have fixed the software completly and the retailers have them back in stocka page i got recommended was neutronexpress.com/ .. they ship into europe

Can anyone please give me a good, solid answer about the track order it plays? Is it good or not? Details please.Also, please, if you can, give me a rating on the buttons and navigation. How are they, from 1 to 10? How are they compared to other players?Thanks a ton.

Version 01.00.09A of the firmware. Does NOT play back albums in the correct order. Even when they are properly tagged or with the file names with numbers in the front.The navigation is great, it is just buttons and the scroll wheel feels odd. It is somthing you will have to check out yourself. But overall i think that they are better than average.

Hello folks! This review site is the best on the web! Got to play with the Sansa e250 (2 GB) today at BestBuy. Nice! They are now selling the 2 & 4 GB versions. The demo music, pictures and video sounded and looked great! The wheel felt a little stiff but had no problem scrolling thru the menus. I will diffently be buying the e270 (6 GB) when BestBuy get it in.

I got an e250 (2GB) on 4/17/06, everything works fine. No problems with album covers, dust, firmware or anything else. The converter software that it comes with works well. The only thing that’s kind of inconvenient is that it doesn’t sort the songs all together by “Artist – Song Title” as it would appear on WinAmp for eg., you have to go to a different part of the menu for that. Or am I just overlooking something?

I got an e250 (2GB) today for my wife after reading this and other views. Right out of the box and after charging, the e250 would display a message like “keylock error….shutting down.” There is a button labelled “hold” on the top that apparently will not let the device turn on if it’s in the wrong position.After getting past that, the device seems very well thought out. Syncing my existing collection with Windows media player was trivial, and managing it is trivial, which made me very glad I didn’t go with an iPod.The screen is great – very bright and crisp, and the operating system makes good use of it. The built-in FM radio tuner gets excellent reception. The device is very solid, sleek and attractive. It’s heavier than you would expect, but by no means too heavy – just solid, built like a tank.The scroll wheel was not hard to operate at all, but the buttons on the outside of the wheel are hard to press, because they are too small. That said, most functions can be accomplished with the scroll wheel and the center button. Also, if you rest your finger on the wheel and an outside button at the same time and press hard, it is easy to operate the buttons – it just takes some getting used to.The interface is very intuitive, responsive and well-designed – better than PocketPCs, phones and other small devices I’ve used. The only potential flaw is that the menu/power button is a little tricky to use – it’s easy to turn the thing off by mistake if you press a little too hard/long.I’m a little surprised there aren’t little extras like an alarm clock in the iPod, but maybe that will come with new firmware.Overall, though, it crushes the iPod nano for the following reasons:-drag and drop management from Windows, WMA support-FM Tuner-Bigger screen-more durable, imo-longer battery life (and replaceable)-about $50 lessThe few,minor drawbacks vs. the nano:-clickwheel/buttons not as nice-no alarm clock

A few more thoughts:Custom EQ was present on my device (if custom EQ means selecting “jazz,” “pop,” “rock,” etc. settings), with version 09 of the firmware. Also, I had no problems with the resume function.One other hint: If giving as a gift, remove the exterior plastic packaging and just wrap up the inside box. The plastic packaging makes this thing look cheap relative to the nano, even though it beats it in nearly every way.Also, I probably didn’t rave enough about how easy this is to use. For music only, there is no software/drivers to install. Just plug it into a USB port and transfer your music. Use Windows Media Player to automatically sync selected playlists. From what I understand, the nano is nowhere near this level of simplicity for Windows users. My wife doesn’t use a computer (believe it or not), so I just show her where to hook it up to let it charge and autosync, and that’s all she needs to know.Also, for those who say on other sites that 2GB of music is plenty – it’s not. I want to carry everything I have on one device, so I can pick playlists based on my mood without messing with the computer. Get the biggest possible flash memory device you can afford, and buy the Sansa for the simple reason you can expand it with a chip later on if you want to. My only regret is I wish I had bought the 6GB. Ideally, I would never have to swap out music because there is not enough storage.

One more question for the reviewer, please: you’ve now reviewed the Sansa e200 and the Samsung Z5, which are the hottest two “nano-killers” right now.Out of the two, which is your preference? In other words, if you had to choose, which one would you take?

Anyone know where you can get a decent arm band for this player? The lanyard doesn’t work very well for working out at the gym. Thanks.Alan’s review is pretty much spot on. I’d still recommend this player despite the interface flaws… I think Apple has a patent on their scroll wheel which is the best design by far.

RE: RANDOMIZED TRACK PROBLEMHere’s a response from Sandisk on the randomized track listing problem. It also includes a possible temporary solution.”This is a known issue, that the tracks are ordered randomly. We are working on a firmware to fix this.Alternatively, you can make playlists with Windows Media Player and transfer them to the player. Save the playlists you want (in wpl or m3u format), then use Automatic Sync to send them to the player. The Sansa must be in MTP mode for this to work. Once done, they should appear as playlists on the player.”Hope this helps.Charlie

New firmware available (Version 12).Sandisk posted a new firmware version for the E200 in their website. The latest version is e200fw01.00.12.exe.Could anyone that owns the E200 try it and check what fixes/changes this version includes ?A custom equalizer (not just pop, rock, jazz, etc) would be nice …

I have yet another question for any e200 owners:Would you say that the small (and hard-to-press) buttons are ones that one can easily get used to? If I purchase the e200, will I have a hard time getting used to them?Also, compared to the averages, would you say that the e270 is reasonably priced?Thanks.

To: KalleThe brick & mortar stores in Virginia has the e250 (2GB) & e260 (4GB) models in stock. The http://www.bestbuy.com/ site presently offers the e250 model.Call 1-888-237-8289, BestBuy’s Customer Service for a current inventory status.Hope this helps!

You will eventually get used to the buttons. It is a small inconvenience but it really isn’t that big of a deal. I bought the player without even testing one out and I’m getting used to it more each day. I’d say try the player out if you can. So far the player has been running without freezing… I’m going to download the new firmware version right now. I will keep you all updated.

Great review and great posts! This player looks very good… just a question: Anyone knows why it doesnt have FM tuner and recorder in Europe?? Maybe it can be fixed with new firmware? If not i’ll think about getting it shipped from USAThanks!

I spoke with SanDisk customer service yesterday inquiring about why the 270 is not out yet. She didn’t give me a definitive answer on why they were delayed, but did tell me that they were not going to be released until mid-2nd quarter, possibly into June. I can only assume that it’s a firmware issue, but with the release of the 12 firmware, one might believe that this is the same firmware on the 270′s and should be able to be released now. She did say that the 250′s and 260′s are out there, but most websites say they are not available yet (including SanDisk’s website which states they are backordered 4-6 weeks), but they are in Best Buy stores, even though BB’s website doesn’t list the 260′s.Has anyone else heard any other information about a release date for these? I have never had more of a problem finding information about a product as I have the 270. I am almost ready to break down and grab a 260, but I want to wait for the 270 but don’t know what the delay is…

Version 12 does not solve the playback order issue completely.Somebody in the dapreview.com forums noticed that the latest version of the firmware does not solve the sorting issue completely.http://www.dapreview.net/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?37000Could anywone with the latest firmware check this ? Also, check if the mp3′s ID3 tags that are set are version 1, version 2, or both. It could be that the E200 just reads version 1 or version 2, and WMP only sets one version.In any case, if this is true, Sandisk engineers are pathetic !

Thank you very much for the review and the pictures!!! Ive been looking all around the internet for pictures of all of it and this is the best and only site i found. Im probably going to get this device. Thanks

Just got my E250 last night. Charged the battery. Worked fine. Then I ried to upload the latest firmware (version 12) and got a “load main image failed error”. “Switch to Recovery mode”. There lies my problem…..any ideas how I do that?Thanks in Advance for your help.

ok so im so close to buying one! i thought i wanted the 260…but now i really want the 270 but im nervous that itll say error to me! im still in between on buying one. ive been looking and i really like this one better then all other mp3 players…but is it worth it?!?! and is the 270 out yet????

roz and Peter, the 270 is delayed everywhere. I don’t know a definite date (not even SanDisk can give a straight answer; 3 different SD reps have given me 5 different ‘answers’) or even know why, but neutronexpress and costcentral both list the ‘availability’ date as 5/5/06, which is the first time I have seen two independent sources list the same date for release. The 250s and 260s are available, but it’s tricky finding them online, but they are available in the US, not sure why they aren’t in Europe.I posted something earlier to see if anyone else had heard anything different or anything corroborating, but nothing yet as far as getting something more definitive.

I checked out the e250 at Best Buy on Monday. I was unimpressed. I had grown tired of waiting for the e270 to come out so I bought a Samsung YP-Z5 with the intent to “trade” it in for the Sansa.After spending about 30 minutes w/ the Sansa I have decided to just stay with the Z5. While I did not notice any noise on the Sansa at any setting, the sound quality and volume on the Z5 is superior, hands down.The video on the Sansa worked well but I found that watching it on such a small screen was less than thrilling. I find the screen on the Z5 to be brighter and crisper than the Sansa. The Sansa seems kinda “washed out” by comparison. One nice thing about the Sansa though is that the album art takes up the whole screen making it larger than the Z5.Since I am not really interested in video, voice recording, or FM radio, I am going to stick with the Z5.I will miss the 2GB (potentially 3GB) extra storage though.

ok Todd, you making me feel bad. Try http://www.ecost.com they have the e270 for $240, and ive called twice and spoken to 2 different reps and i also sent them an email, and ive gotten responses like “on april 30th they will get 40 units” but there are already 10 of those on back order including mine ….so you better hurry up and get in line. ok i hope this helps

Thanks, Alfredo! I apologize, I wasn’t trying to make anyone feel bad, but I appreciate the info. I have been looking at several places online, but there hasn’t been any consistency on the ‘availability’ dates except for the two that I mentioned earlier.I figured there would be numerous places that will end up getting them, but the well will dry up quickly. Thanks for the heads up!

Alfredo, Watch out for e-cost. I personally have bought 2 items from them and have not had problems (both small tickets items). But they have a horrible customer service reputation after the sale. Check out this link- http://www.resellerratings.com/. Given the cost of the item and some of the problems others have had with this unit already, you may want to wait a week or two and get it from a seller with a better history.

got a e250 last night. Charged the battery. Worked fine. it froze while listening to a song i reset it, Then I tried to upload the latest firmware (version 12) and got a “load main image failed error”. “Switch to Recovery mode”. now it wont go away. any ideas how I do that?

FxChosaP71, you are the second person here to mention this particular problem when loading the new firmware. Have you contacted SanDisk TS to see if they can walk you through it? Sounds like they might have another firmware issue on their hands…

Wow, I wish I would have read this first. I too uploaded firmware #12 and now have a dead MP3 player on my hands. Lucky that Best Buy gives you 30 days to purchase the extended warranty, it will be a lot easier than dealing w/ Sandisk. Has anyone figured out how to fix it?

smart1, here are the installation instructions for the firmware upgrade per the SanDisk website. I have bolded the section below where it states it must be in MSC mode for the upgrade. I have also bolded a section where it states that all other USB flash drives should be removed from the PC prior to the upgrade.

Installation instructions:Player must be in MSC (Mass Storage Class) mode to run the firmware.To go to MSC mode:In your e200 Mp3 device, go to “Settings” > “USB Mode” > “MSC”Unplug any other USB flash drives that’s connected to any of your USB ports.Download the firmware to your PCPlug in your e200Double-click on the downloaded firmware (e200fw01.00.12.exe) and follow instructionsUnplug your e200Device will do it’s own update process and will restart.

I am betting the instructions were followed by those users that have tried to upgrade the firmware, but still the problem exists. There have been some success stories, but they aren’t outpacing the ones that have the message to to go Recovery Mode. There is nothing in the support pages about a Recovery Mode, so either emailing SD or calling their tech support at

Does anyone else have a place were users can ask questions about the e200 like how we do here? Or is this the best place to trade notes. cause for me it looks like we help each other pretty good. let me know if theres other e200 forums.

I too have the firmware upgrade problem with my e250. Frozen player, when upgrading from ver. 9 to ver. 12.Sandisk tech support was pretty straightforward, acknowledging that this is a problem with the firmware, and there is no fix. He said he didn’t know why the upgrade is still posted when they know it is flawed.I was given two options, A – wait and see if a fix is posted B – go back to the store and exchange it.

Got mine last week. So far no big problems. I think the video interface is buggy. Im thinking a bug with the video caused a crash that corrupted the database and trashed the contents of the disk. A format in windows corrected that problem. I dont mind putting music back on the thing, but I cant loose my personal data files.Are there any dedicated forums for the e250? If not I dont mind putting up something quicky for some sort of centralization of our experiences and polls of our wishes.

Another 01.00.12A firmware bug for you, after upgrading i can no longer add or remove tracks to this device.

I can drop them on either using explorer or Win Media Player 10 Sync tab, and after unplugging the device it reboots itself, but the new tracks dont appear to be present. Deleting tracks gives a similar problem, the tracks dont disappear from the tracks list, and when you play them, they show a running time of 0:00.

I used to have a SONY NW-HD3, which was really annoying to have to use SONICSTAGE, but at least the thing worked.

Logged with SANDISK support, but reading the above i dont hold out much hope of a resolution, good job i live 5 mins from Bestbuy!.

Does anybody have an old firmware exe (pre 12) that we can try and downgrade the device with ?.

here’s an option, as soon as you get your new e200……don’t mess with it, don’t try to dwnld firmware 12a. obviously it is causing trouble with our players. you know how the old saying goes……”if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

well i really don’t have e200 yet.but i am planning to get an e250 and waiting until they fix ver. 12 or until amazon gets some instock and order it then. But until now they only pre-order it and are probably pulling it out due to problems with firmware. So i’ll just save it up and maybe later get an e270

OK, looks like I got it fixed. Seems like they are still trying to figure it out at Sandisk.I called tech support and first they said to return it to the store for exchange. Called a couple hours later and they told me they just got an internal memo for a procedure to get the E200 into recovery mode.- Power off the unit- Slide the hold switch to the lock position,- Hold the “record” button on the side pressed- Plug in the USB portThey said that should work. Well it didn’t for me. After the call, out of desperation, I tried the same procedure above, but this time I also pressed the “menu” key before plugging in the USB and that did it. I then reloaded version 12 and it has been working great so far. So far I’ve just loaded and played music and pictures on he device and no problems so far.If any of you are still having problems getting into recovery mode, try this procedure and let us know if it worked.

Does anyone know if there has been a cap placed on the size of the video playable on the e250? I was able to play a 755MB file on it with version 00, (new out of the box), but I loaded version 12(oops!) and now that same file wont play. It now will only play small 120 MB files.

Hey check emule for the manual thats where I got a copy. The player I bought had xxx.09A installed I went ahead and loaded xxx.12A. My larger video files are segmented also. I got intouch with sandisk about this to see if it was a hardware limitation. Sounds likes its not if you remembered being able to play a full sized file.

I got the v.12 firmware the day it was released for my e250 and I haven’t had any problems. I don’t have much use for the updates though. This is just an FYI that not everyone is having trouble with the latest firmware.

I just got response from Sandisk. To load the firmware through recovery mode, turn player off, then put the “hold” button on, next hold down the record button and connect it to the computer, it will turn on automatically, hold the record until the the computer recognizes the devices and it says connected.Next I reloaded the firmware and everything worked fine….or at least I can play songs again, I haven’t tried to transfer anything yet.Digiman

FYI:If you are using this device as a portable photo album you may want to try this to increase the screen area used to display the pictures.Batch rotate all pictures in landscape orientation by 90 degrees to the right before converting/uploading. This allows the images to be displayed on the screens long legs.Some of you rocket scientist may have done this already!

Formerly perfectionistTNTo Jman: I planned on that before it came out when reading about the screen resolution.

My short review/comments:

Design/GUI:The e200 excels at this point. The design is sleek and compact. The GUI is colorful and simple. The Menu button is a handy touch, as well. Unfortunately, it’s a fingerprint magnet and the beautiful screen scratches up with 1 or 2 scratches noticeable while the backlight is on.

Features:The Sansa e200 has many great features like FM radio & recording, voice recording, photo viewing, and video playback. However, these offerings could be more refined.

- FM reception is clear.- Photo viewing is great on the 1.8″ display.- Video playback is clear and smooth and the horizontal orientation make sense.

- WAV is space-consuming for recordings, and there’s no MP3 recording option.- Videos that aren’t music videos gobble up space, but not too seriously for casual users.- Photos and videos must go through conversion that isn’t always successful. Only AVI (Uncompressed), AVI(MJPEG), and MOV files work. (Minor inconvience as you can just convert files in other formats to MJPEG format and then convert it for the player.)

Performance:- Battery life is great at 20-23 hours.- Lags occasionally when switching from the Now Playing screen to the menu.

Conclusion: The Sandisk Sansa e200 is a great little device, but there are various glitches that will hopefully be resolved.

Track Order Problem: The track order problem has been fixed partially. Some albums show up in the correct order, some show up alphabetically, and some still show up random. All my files have been ID3-tagged for track numbers with ID3tagIT, WMP, and then Winamp and dragged-and-dropped.

Here’s some news for those like myself who live outside the US and are looking to buy an e270 online.neutronexpress.com, which was the cheapest available and advertising the units for US $247 plus $41 international shipping, has just bumped up the price to $270 plus shipping.So I’m looking for somewhere cheaper…

i read somewhere that sandisk is supposed to be coming out with a 2GB microSD card sometime this year. i’m guessing it’s later rather than sooner though.i cant decide if i should just get the 2GB now and buy a microSD later if i need more space, or just wait until the 4GB or 6GB is available. i’ve only seen a couple of sites with the 2GB, and none with any of the other sizes. (memory.com has some of the 2gb for 179.95 but doesn’t even list any of the other sizes).does anybody know anything about the 2GB microSD? is it going to happen?

Can someone please tell me if:1) This can do bookmarking? (not resuming but bookmarking for audiobook so i can jump from one book to antoher and come back to where i left off)2) Shuffle within a playlist? That way it won’t shuffle to an audiobook if i have audiobooks and music in the e200.Thanks!!!

Looks like the release date of the E270 is being pushed back again. A few of the sites that say they were being released in late April are now saying mid-May.Sandisk finally sent me a response from a week ago and the guy that replied to me said that he thought they were out already. He said he has one sitting at his desk and gave me the address for the E270 on the SanDisk website. A bunch of help that was.Looks like we will continue to wiat for this if we want the E270 with no explanation as to why it is being delayed… again…

CS – I too was wondering if the Nano armband would fit, since they both are similar in size. My guess would be that it is close (can’t say with any certainty whether it’s close enough or not though), but might not quite fit the opening(s) needed for the buttons and dial.The only sure option at this point (that I can see) is to go with a generic armband for mp3 players…which doesn’t give much access to the player while running and they are usually much larger than the player itself. That said, the larger size might be handy for storing some carbo packs or something.DLO makes the “Action Jacket” for the iPods as well as the Samsung and Creative Zen players. I really like the style/design that they use. I emailed them last week asking if they were going to offer an Action Jacket for the Sansa e200 series and got less than a steller answer back from their Customer service. They basically said that they don’t currently offer it (thanks – like I didn’t know that…why do they think I was emailing in the first place???), but to check back on their website in a month and…IF they do offer it, I can find it there. DUH…

Chris and others:From the start I have not noticed issues with the track order. I initially had firmware 9A loaded and I used Windows Media Player Library to enter ID3 info for all of my MP3′s. I upgraded to firmware 12A without issue the day it was released and still have no issues. I have ~400 songs loaded and I played each Album to confirm the songs played in the correct order: and they did. One thing that I did notice is that if you Play All songs in order they are sorted by the song name.*A significant thing that I have done is placed my MP3′s in folders similar to how Windows Media Player does: Artist\Album\Song.mp3Hope this helps.—————-Also, I’m now dealing with the issue of a corrupt directory where I can’t delete the files or add rarely can add files to that directory. SanDisk support suggests formating in MSC mode, so that’s what I’ll try later. I figure it occured from not Safely disconnecting, but you can’t do that in MTP mode in Windows XP SP2 anyway!

Questions about video playback:Does the video play smoothly without glitches in the sound ? I tested an E250 in Best B*y and the demo video had some jitter in the sound, as if the processor was not fast enough to decode the audio stream. This was on firmware 09A.Also, is the limitation of video length to less than 10 min a problem of the conversion software, or the player refuses to play large files ? My guess is that in version 12 they limited the maximum file size to the size of their buffer to avoid decoding delays when refilling the buffer.

Is there an arm band out for this thing yet? Fricking lanyard sucks arse! It seems Sandisk rushed to get this thing out… there are practically no accessories for this thing and the quality control is really poor on this player.having said that… i was able to fix all the problems that everyone has been experiencing. from dust accumulating inside the screen, to the player hanging on refreshing, to tracks not playing in the correct order, fixing title names and unknown albums. i feel i have invested way too much time in trying to get it to work correctly.This player would have been decent if they didnt have all these firmware issues… almost unbelievable that they would ship the unit with these problems.I can’t fathom it but at least they put something out that stands up well to the ipod units. i can’t wait for future model lines.

The video plays back smoothly! For 15fps its really not that bad. Note I am running .12A.I have played just about every filetype I could get my hands on and after the proper conversion, ALL of the videos worked flawlessly. So far my biggest rant is the screen is starting to take scratches. I wonder if the front plate will be sold to people willing to do the r and r.Jman

Question guys and gals…Im looking in my music folder on my e250 and I have a 4gb file sitting inside of there. I didnt put it there. Now I know quirks happen, but what are the chances that all of these sansa e200 series are all 6gb with some sort of limiter in place? In theory, if I weighed my sandisk ultra II 1gb and 2gb cf card, there should be a big difference in mass right? More gates more mass?

ARMBAND Update…I bought the e250 and like many people here I was very interested in finding an armband to use while running. I took mine to Best Buy and found a sympathetic salesman (who went to great length to tell me how much better than an IPod this is). We tried the e250 in every armband in the store. It does not really fit in the Nano cases as it is a bit bigger. It will fit in some of them better than others. In particular, it fits in the active gear case, but takes a lot of work to get it in and out and it doesn’t look good in it.If fits pretty well in the Apple brand armband straps that have the half case with open top and a strap over the top. I would have bought that (for $30) until we found a cell phone case (Cellective case universal) that fits it perfectly, and was on clearance for only $0.99. I couldn’t beat that deal.Short answer is, there are workable armband solutions out there to last until someone makes one for it, which probably won’t be long.

Way to go Big Al!!! One question though: is there a specific model name & number to go with that Cellective Case? In doing a search online, I’m finding all kinds of Cellective cases, but none that appear to be an armband.Many thanks for your initiative to get out there and try some of the available cases!

The Cellective case just says “universal mobile phone case”. The best buy tag labels it as “LGVX8100, CE500, A920/Universal Music Armband”. It has a SKU of 89029J.This case has a clear plastic front so all controls and displays are visible and space in the corners to accomodate the headphone jack. It is were just a little smaller it would look like it were custom made.

AnythingButiPod.com Forums AddedForums were just added to the site. They are somwhat in beta state and i am still playing around with the format and categories. So please email me with suggestions, comments, complaints… mail at anythingbutipod.comhttp://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/There is a specific thread started for the e200.

I was able to format in MSC mode and it cleared everything up, while leaving the system directory (hidden) untouched. The album art works perfectly for the most part. Using the same format as the preinstalled media you name your album cover as “Album\Album Art.jpg” or in my case “Artist\Album\Album Art.jpg”. The size of the JPEG doesn’t matter, just the larger it is, the longer it takes to be displayed.———————As for accessories the support tech I talked to today said it’s only been a month since the e200 series was released and they haven’t recieved word of any accessories yet. I asked specifically about a usb power cable, say for use with 12V usb car chargers they have for ipods. So, it seems that SanDisk will be relying on other manufacturers to supply the accessories.

Duane, will it display album art if it has been written to the ID3 tag, or is it specifically set up the way you describe it above?

The album art I have is written directly to the ID3 tag using MediaMonkey and displays in numerous programs, including WMP10, so I am hoping that the album art displays on the E200 series via the ID3 tags…

I did see a post much earlier from perfectionistTN on April 2, 2006 that states that some of the album art does work on the e200 in MSC or MTP mode. I guess I will have to mess with the E270 when and if it ever comes out to see if I will have to redo my entire collection.I have a collection that isn’t set up by artist-album-song.mp3. It is set up by song – artist.mp3 and is divided into folders by the song title. I guess I might have to redo it all, but I hope I won’t have to for it to work with the player. It works just fine right now on my m200 series SanDisk player.

I love this thing so far, im having problems using it in mtp mode.it works fine in msc mode , i have no issues with that.when ever i put the e250 in mtp mode, the computer tells me it cannot find the drivers..HELP!!! please.also the media converter will not detect the player..

To sync your actual playlist to the the player you need to change the sync settings in Windows media player. There should be a button for this called “sync setting” I believe(I’m not sitting in front of Media Player right now.) That sould bring up a list of all your possible playlist, including many choices that you dont want. Remove all checks from boxes you don’t want (including “all music”), and place checks only in the ones that you do want. If you have Media Player set to automatically sync as soon as you connect, then 1.)Press stop sync. 2.)Change sync settings. 3.)Open “Music” and delete anything that was just downloaded during auto-syncing. 4.)Sync player again (disconnect then reconnect if need be). Playlist should be on Player when done.

I tried adding the album art through WMP10 under Advanced Tag Editor -> Pictures and it didn’t show on my e250. Also FYI, it *seems* to work with my usb car charger, I have to let it charge a little longer to see if that’s true. It automatically powers on when connected. I’m not sure if it’s actually charging or if it just thinks it’s charging. You can also cut it off, but I have no clue if it’s charging then. Maybe someone else can try this out.

Playlist HelpI can’t get playlists to synch as playlists. I tried in Windows Media Player or in Musicmatch jukebox. In both cases, all songs synch, but not as a playlist. I likewise tried dragging m3u and wpl files straight to the playlist folder but it says they are of a type not supported.I then upgraded my firmware from 9 to 12 and tried it again. Now when I try in Windows Media Player, nothing synchs…not even the songs unless I do them individually. It tells me they are unsupported.How do I get a playlist to load?

my first e250 lasted about a second. As soon as I plugged it in to my computer, it said “System shutting down” and died. I exchanged it and my new one seems to be working fine. It came with the newest update and the albums play in the correct order. My computer had no trouble detecting the device. I used MTP to transfer all my files.

Okay review. Deeply lacking in discussing the limitations of audio formats available, but a great job of describing how crazy it is that one and only one video format is native.Better to be patient and shop, rather than change, restrict or have to get third party products and workarouonds due to the incredible inflexibility of this SanDisk. Another step down in technology.No open source audio formats.This unit is marketed to (this is NOT a putdown), customers are don’t care about choices and just want to download DRM Microsoft encoded audio from ITunes.The flash format used is an attempt by Sandisk to get acceptance of their very expensive propriatary format.Compare the cost of accepted formats from consortiums like SD, to this propriatary flash format being forced on Sandisk customers. PLEASE don’t fall for it. Remember all the mishaps with Sony on that philosophy of thinking that everyone is just going to use their propriatary formats. Examples are memory sticks, Beta video (and I pathetically forgot the name of Sonys propriatary audio codec that is on their portable media players.

Thanks for the comments re: RECOVERY MODE. I followed these exacting instructions after getting a response from SANDISK on the SANSA e250 error. Worked PERFECTLY. Instructions are: “Let’s try this: turn the player off (hold the power button down for 20 seconds if you have to), then put the hold switch ON. Now hold the record button while you connect it to the computer, keep holding it until it finishes installing the new device. Now attempt to do the firmware update again. Thank you for contacting SanDisk Technical Support.”I DO LOVE this SANSA player for podcasts – I ALMOST bought the one up at C.CRANE radio (POGO RADIO YOURWAY LX) which also has AM radio (for TALK).

There is a complication with my Sansa e200. Mine just froze and well, I want to know if there is someone working on this glitch. Also I was trying to reset it and well, it didn’t work at all so if you could tell me what to do.

Emily: Did you try holding down the power button for 20 seconds to reset it? If it keeps freezing try just going into Recovery Mode (see post before yours) then exiting.————–hamm23: You have to use a software player that allows you to change ID3 tag info. I use Windows Media Player 10 and just edit Title, Artist, Album in the Library view.

Hey guys,I invite you guys to come participate in the sansa forum. I see a ton of good questions being asked that have been answered or would be benifical to all owners to see in a forum type environment. Sometimes answers are easliy skiped over here.Peter while in MSC mode you can listen to your music onboard your sansa,however the sansa will be used as a portable drive.. meaning you wont be listening through your sansas earbuds.In MTP mode the files are not available for use. You will have to drag the files(copy) from your sansa to your harddrive and then play them.Did this answer your question?See you in the forums,Jman-Sansa Froum Moderator

Kenneth at April 25, 2006 10:21 PM1.)This can do bookmarking? (not resuming but bookmarking for audiobook so i can jump from one book to antoher and come back to where i left off)

I saw Kenneth posted this a while back and I think I have a solution. It’s not exactly what he is looking for but may help him and you guys. It’s does require some effort on your end and Third party software, but it works well and isn’t as hard as you’d think.

I like to listen to audiobooks too but sometimes the files are large and are a pain to resume if you lose your place. What you can do is break the track up into smaller portions with an audio file editor. Go to Cnet.com/Download section and find Audacity. It is a totally free, audio editing program. Load the file in Audacity and then split it up into shorter more manageable tracks. (This will take some experimentation and reading to learn the software but it is no hard thing.)

Not only that, but Audacity can convert Wav into Mp3 format!, among other things, and is easy to use once you get the hang of it. Tag editor too, though not as good as WMPs.

Peter asked Can you listen to it while it charges and I read the response. But what if you are simply charging it in your car by plugging it into a lighter adapter? Will it still play while plugged in?

Bryan,Good question… No Great question. I own no car charger yet but I am almost certain the audio would be available while charging in the car. My theory is they cut the music play out because of the amount of data streams the player can handle at one time. Anyone out there charging via auto?Jman-Sansa Froum Moderator

Just got the phone with Sandisk… Didnt get a clear answer on the car charging question other than one does not exist yet. I was told to expect more accessories this summer. So we will see!Jman-Sansa Froum Moderator

Bryan: From my earlier post you can see that you can use the player while connected to a usb car charger. This works because only a couple of the pins on a usb cable are for power, and the others are data. When you connect your cable to the pc it recognizes the data connection, however the car charger probably has those pins removed. This is the case with usb lights as well. My only issue with the car charger is that it seems to only charge for a moment. As I said earlier, I don’t spend enough time in my car to confirm this, so maybe someone else can check it out.—————-Jman: I asked sandisk support about the car charger previously and it seems they *can’t* give a solution that is not supported by sandisk. I say this because the person I talked to was knowledgable, but wouldn’t suggest a non-sandisk product and insisted that the product did not exist, as you said. As for me I’m using a Pelican charger that came with a GBA SP accessories kit.—————-zaed: It seems natively their capped at 127mb, but using the converter software it chops up larger videos into segments no larger that 127mb and names them so they play in order as if the video was not chopped. The drawback is that you will notice a slight pause in playback due to the segmented video files.

I’m 63…and this will be my first mp3 player…all I want is a player that’s easy to use, has FM radio, will play books, and allow me to download music. Will the e250 serve this purpose? Will I need 2GB, 4GB, or 6GB? Is it easy to learn?I like the looks…it’s not bulky, feels good in the hand and it’s lightweight.Some of the messages make me think that it’s difficult to use… and that it’s only for seasoned users. Any suggestions would be welcome,since I don’t have anyone to help me figure out how to use it.

Joyce-I just bought this a couple days ago. It’s my first MP3 player too. It was very easy to figure out how to use, and to download music using windows media player. I’ve downloaded books too, and had no problems. As far as what size to get, I’m not sure what works for you. I got the 4GB, currently have 2 books and 36 albums (total of 512 songs) and have 1620MB free (3807MB total)if that helps at all.

I got the 2gb version a week ago and have had consistant problems with MP3 files not deleting (MSC mode). I’ll make a folder titled “beatles” for example….fill it full of songs…then decide to delete it…I then unplug the e250 and it reboots…..only the “beatles” folder is still there, and there is one song in it….which won’t play, it’s shows a running time of 0:00. I have three seperate “ghost” folders now…very annoying since the only way to get rid of them is to format the entire device, which I’ve had to do twice now…..has anyone found a fix for this problem???Any help is really appreciated, I love this thing otherwise, I just don’t want huge list of nonexsistant mp3′s.Cheers.

Joyce,The FM radio sounds pretty darn good. I do not think you will go wrong with the sansa. Know that it doubles as a great photo viewer and video player .. if thats up your alley. Also know that if you ever need help, you found the right place to be! Feel free to join the forums or just browse for answers.Good Luck,Jman

Zaed,Head over to: This ThreadScroll down to you see your answer posted by Big Al. I will have a FAQ up this weekend so this information will be right at your finger tips. Thanks Big Al… Hope this gets you going in the right direction zaed.Jman

Anyone know which program to use to get songs to display album art when you transfer songs onto the e250?I’ve tried Itunes, Windows Media Player and TagScanner and set up the album art but it doesn’t show after I’ve transferred it.Thanks.

On Editing ID3 Tags I prefer using my SANSA to listen to podcasts (lectures/talk-radio/speeches) which always have lousy indeterminate tags (if any) – is there a GLOBAL RENAME option (in WMP or another) to “bulk rename all” in a single column – i.e. changing to a single album/genre name like “01A”?

zaed: The instructions say you can copy over .wpl (Windows Media Player) or .m3u (Winamp & others) playlists to your e250. To find out how to do this do a Google search.————–porksoda: in an earlier post I stated that you have to create a folder for your album, place your mp3 for that album in that folder, then save your album cover to that folder as “Album Art.jpg”. Of course this means the image has to be in .jpg (JPEG) format. This is how it was done in with the mp3 preloaded on the e200. I have tried using ID3 album art through WMP10 but it hasn’t worked yet…————–goldhorde: In windows just open the folder with your mp3′s, select all the ones you want to name the same thing, then right click one of them and choose “Properties”. Then choose the “Summary” tab and edit the audio info (you may have to press the “Advanced” button to view audio info). This changes the info for all of the files you selected.

I e-mailed sandisk about the problem with mp3′s not deleting from the player in MSC mode (the ones with the run time of 00:00 that don’t show up on your computer, but show up on the player. “ghost files” I call them. This is the response I got:”Update your firmware, if that doesn’t work, try using the player in MTP mode.”I have already updated the firmware, and why would I use it in MTP mode? The WHOLE REASON I bought the e250 is because I can drag and drop files to it….and now tech support is telling me that it’s broken, and that I should use MTP mode and have to deal with sync’ing and all that stuff?…..no thanks. I’m still waiting on a response, but it looks like I’ve got to troubleshoot this problem myself…I’ll post any solutions I come across.Think about it…what if you couldn’t get your driver’s side door open on your brand new car…and all the dealership had to say was “ehh…just use the passenger door instead”…wouldn’t you get angry?Cheers.

READ THIS IF YOU HAVE MP3 FILES THAT WON’T DELETE OFF YOUR PLAYER!!!!!!!Ok, after a few e-mails with sandisk, we’ve come to a conclusion. A few e250′s don’t let you completely delete mp3′s from the GUI in MSC mode (that is, they’ll delete in windows explorer, but the GUI thinks they’re still there..so it displays the song, like it’s there, but it’s not..creating lots of “ghost files”..very annoying. Here’s the fix:Use MTP mode. Now, what I thought….MTP mode is only for sync’ing to your various media players…etc….but turns out that it also has “drag and drop” functionality. Turn it over to MTP…plug it in..cancel the window asking you to sync it, then if you look on the listing of drives on windows explorer, it’ll show up….click on it…you get a “media” folder, and a “data” folder, the Media folder holds your music, and the data folder holds your photos and your videos…..all you have to do is make a folder of songs on your PC, then drag it into the appropriate folder on the e250…..I tried a few different folders of music and none of them had ghosting problems when they were deleted. Sandisk has yet to get back to me why MSC mode even exsists if the MTP mode has better (not broken) drag and drop functionality.In short, Screw MSC mode, everything you want to do can be done from MTP mode without any ghosting problems. The only thing MSC seems to exsist for is installing Firmware.Hope the info helps.Cheers.

I’m a Linux user (I can dual-boots w/ Windows, but I don’t have XP … which means no media player 10…which means no real Win support anyway) and I have had no problems using the player in MSC mode. Shows up just like it was a Cruzer. If you’ve used Amarok to fetch album art for you, you can just transfer whole folders to your Sansa and the album art works nicely. The best thing, of course, is that while you can use Amarok (which is like iTunes) to tag and assign art to your music, you DON’T have to run it to transfer songs to the player.

I’m hoping someone writes an open-source converter to replace the Arcsoft media converter (which doesn’t run in Linux or Mac). Until then, I guess you could try to do the conversions with a general-use conversion program.

I am interested in purchasing the e250, and I’m doing research before i purchase it. Does anyone know if there is any other way to charge the Sansa e250 without having a computer present? Maybe some type of usb charger that plugs into a wall outlet or something?

Lava: The only way to charge the e250 out of the box is via USB into a computer (or xbox 360 as I use). There are third party USB car chargers, and that has to mean that there are also wall chargers out there too. But, again, you’ll have to pick them up seperate from the e250.Tsavong Lah: Skull and Crossbones? Not quite sure what that means, but it plays any kind of mp3. I write music, and I just toss my mp3′s onto it, no problem. It’ll play anything. Now, WMA without fiddling..that’s a problem.

“MP3s? Namely those of the skull and crossbones variety.”Um…how can the player tell whether it’s skull and crossbones?If the player THINKS it can detect S&B mp3 files, I have absolutely no confidence it will be accurate. The last thing I want is a player that thinks my Emusic files are S&B.

do you now if the e 200 version in Asia is europe version or american version?a friend is in honk kong and will buy it to me..can someone give me their e-mail..i guess i will need help as i am from south america and dont now very much about this upgradesThanks

i am confused, i just got one of these e250 players and i hear people saying to use the MTP mode and others to use the MSC mode?!i have been using the MSC mode, cuz when i plug in the MTP mode my windows XP makes a sound that something is being plugged but it doesn’t show anything…i guess i clicked on that option “take no action, always perform the selected action” feature that windows has when you plug something and my windows is not recognizing the player anymore in MTP mode…does anyone know how to fix this so wheni plug the player in MTP mode win xp shows up?another quesiton i have; let’s say you delete some folders from the root of your sansa e250 by mistake and you don’t remember what they were, how do you reset the player to have all the folders back in there as it first came out of the box? or does this really mater? i mean, can i delete all folders and come up with my own names? or are there folders taht can’t be deleted? just wondering…

durex: “take no action” and WinXP not recognizing the player are two different things. When in MTP mode you should be able to open my computer and see Sansa e250 with an icon. If not call Sandisk support or search the Microsoft.com knowledgebase. As for recovering folders, the necessary ones will not allow you to delete them. To restore the default folders you will have to format the player (usually in MSC mode). Unfortunately you cannot restore the pre-installed media. The good thing is that you can add whatever folders you would like. For instance I have all of my music in the form of Sansa e250\Media\Music\Artist\Album\Song.mp3

Here’s something funny: the first day I got the player, the GUI lagged for about 10 seconds after I rated a song….then all of a sudden a day or two later.. it stopped doing that. Works perfectly now. I have no idea what got ironed out.FWIW, I have firmware 01.00.09A. Have been afraid to flash the new firmware to it, since I am planning on taking it back to Best Buy (b/c they were charging $207 total for the 2GB 250.. but b/c I live in Arkansas, they were also the only place I could get my hands on one within 30 miles.)BTW.. the documentation says to hit the left directional button after you rate a song. This is not correct. You have to press the center button for the player to SAVE your rating.—On an unrelated note: did anyone with the new firmware notice if the full screen album art stays? On mine, everything returns to the Now Playing screen: the oscilloscope, the fullscreen album art, and the “next song” screen. It’s kind of annoying. I mean, what if I wantthe album art to disply full screen during the entire song? Why would I just want to look at it for 15 seconds? This is even more true for hte oscilloscope…which seems to lag a good deal behind the actual levels.

Hey–Is there anyone who has experience with the Nano? I’m wondering if the Sansa e200 series players are as scratch-prone. I’ve already picked up a handful of scratches on the screen–and this is using the velvet case and only after 3 days! That’s pretty alarming.

I just got a sansa e200 2 GB. I was against ipod because I am using my work computer…shhh…and I cannot download any additional software. —Will this work OK with Windows Media Player (without me using the included software)?–Any luck finding the armband other than one called the “collective” brand?I am going to follow the playlist advice someone gave abt”1.)Press stop sync. 2.)Change sync settings. 3.)Open “Music” and delete anything that was just downloaded during auto-syncing. 4.)Sync player again (disconnect then reconnect if need be). Playlist should be on Player when done.”I hope I made the right choice….Please help

Rachel, That freeaked me out too. All you have to do is turn off “hold”–just flip the switch on the top. The Sansa says “Key locked system shutdown” anytime it’s off and on hold and you try to turn it on.

I baught one couple days ago while it was on sale. I haven’t had any problem. It works perfectly.It seems like they ironed out all their problems. The firmware upgrade was fine. Make sure you set it to MSU [MSC] before you upgrade.This is the definative Nano Killer! I’m luving it.

Hi,I have two questions regarding the e200 series. Does it support folder browsing or is it only possible to browse by ID3-Tag? I don’t want to update all my mp3′s tags.The second question might seem to be a bit stupid, but is ot possible to fast forward a song, even though there is no scrolling feature with the wheel.Thanks.

heyi got the player today it was working perfect till i upgraded the firmware now it just recognizes the e250 but i cant go into it or convert any videos into it i formated the device but when i open it again it tells me “refresh database fail” does any one have any ideas on how could i resolve the problem

I just got this mp3 player yesterday and I was listening to a song and it froze none of the buttons worked. Dont be afraid because you just have to let it sit there until the battery dies and then you restart it! This is a lot better than the ipod nano. All of my friends have one and i almost, almost fell for it but i didnt. So i am so happy for this mp3 player it is almost exactly the size of the ipod, .1 inch wider across and .3 more inches deep. I would give this a 9 of 10 I LOVE IT GREAT REVIEW GUYS.

Excellent review! I just picked up the 2GB yesterday based on this site – thanks! One question though: Does it require USB 2.0? My PC is not detecting the unit. It does charge, I just cannot copy any music over. I plugged it to my PC at work and it was detected immediately as it should be.

Hey Mark, what’s taking so long for SanDisk to release the 270? It’s now a month and a half delayed for some reason, and so far, I can’t find ANY brick and mortar store that’s going to carry it in their stores. Online only…No one knows anything about this one, except that it MIGHT exist. First it was end of March, then April 15th, then late April, and, for now, mid-May. What gives?

how come when i convert some video files it splits them into a number of different files? running 12A right from store (just got it)… anyone experience this yet? any way to make the converter create 1 large file instead? thanks!

I would first of all recommend that anyone purchasing any mp3 player get some sort of extended warranty.. I’ve had a couple probs with my E260 such as this “freeze up” as Jomomma talked about. I called SanDisk support and was walked through a solution to this one time problem. You are to remove the four small screws from the backing plate then remove it, exposing the battery. Once inside, remove the battery and press down and hold the on/off button for 20 seconds then reinsert the battery. Since I’ve done this (as promised) I have never had this happen again. I have also had to update my firmware and had some issues while doing that, but it eventually took, so now everything is peachy with my Sansa.Back to the extended warranty.. I plan on my Sansa E260 “malfunctioning” right around the time the 6GB E270 is put into stores. This way I’ll exchange my current player for the newer model. Just an idea for those who don’t want to wait :-]P.S. My screen is pretty screwed up now also. I have the silicone case which stays on the player at all times. It seems they have put a lot into the LiquidMetal™ backing, maybe they should put that same focus on the screen or make a case that protects it.

The Whip wrote:”Back to the extended warranty.. I plan on my Sansa E260 “malfunctioning” right around the time the 6GB E270 is put into stores. This way I’ll exchange my current player for the newer model. Just an idea for those who don’t want to wait :-]”That means your E260 is going to work well for a LONG time considering no one knows when the E270 is going to be released, including SanDisk after my latest call to them…

To answer some questions…chammi: latest firmware rev doesn’t “fix” the timeout on viewing album art and eqmike: sorry, it only reads ID3 tags; also when playing a song press the down/submenu button and select “Scan…” then use the wheel to ff/rw.The Whip: there can be many reasons the file size is limited, but this seems to be the only option. If someone can figure out the video conversion parameters maybe they can test having larger video files.as for Sandisk support sending an armband….I’ll believe it WHEN YOU RECIEVE IT!Also FYI: BestBuy has dropped their price from $189.99 to $149.99 for the e250.

Edit to previous post:Thanks EnzoTen for the screenshot of the video properties. I was able to convert a video, adjusting many of the parameters. I’m using MPEG Streamclip which allows me to select a higher audio and video quality but it doesn’t let me flip the video or adjust the data rate (no big difference at 2mb), and the video seems to have interlacing issues. I’ll keep tweaking, but if anyone knows of a good FREE Quicktime video converter please let me know. It doesn’t seem that I can rotate video in Quicktime Pro either (just from observation, I don’t actually have it). Hopefully someone can respond to this as well.

i really don’t understand people…you would think that when they buy something that contains and LCD display of any KIND that they right away buy a protective sticky thing of some sort to place it on their screens…i know not all electronics have that specifically made for them…but it boggles me how people can’t really think in getting a diferent screen protector for a different electronic and modifying it to fit for example their sansa e200 series players and others…come one guys, use your head!!! and stop complanying on how the screen is too easy to scratch…ALL LCD screens…i mean…all kind of screens are easy to scratch…it is up to the user to do something about it. live and learn!

Hello all,I am in the UK and am interested in buying the E250, one catch I want it to have a FM digital tuner like the american model. So can anyone confirm that the ones sold in the UK have a fm digital radio? I phoned Sandisk and they told me that I could either buy one in the US or update the firmware from their website ( doing this sounds a bit iffy as above lots of peoples machines froze etc.. and I don’t want the hassle of having to send it back etc) Has anyone upgraded for this sole purpose?HELP!last case resort to get it in Canada when I go end of May, but when does it come out over there? Any online retailer that you can think of I could order it here in the UK and have it sent to me here that wouldn’t break the wallet?Nadine

Nadine, on the SanDisk website, it states that FM radio is not available in the European models, only North America. So, if you want one with an FM radio, you will have to buy it in/from NA instead of in the UK or elsewhere in Europe.

Just update the to US firmware like SanDisk suggested. There is an FM tuner in all of them, they are just disabled in Europe due to laws. The firware is freezing because it is just buggy. I would not worry about updating to the newest, i have found that it is more stable than the past versions.Updating to differnt country firmwares is a trick used all the time. For instance: if europeans update thier Zen Vison:M firmware to US, it takes the volume lock off. If iRiver U10 owners update thier firmware to Japanese versions, they can replace MTP transferes with UMS.

HI again,Thanks for the replies, I see it tells you how to unfreeze the unit if it does freeze up when updating to US firmware.. so Enzoten you are saying that there is physically a fm tuiner in all versions its just disabled in the ones here in the UK? If I go ahead and buy one and I get stuck trying to get the US firmware installed ( ie machine freezes) can someone here help to get it back to a workable state? Surely you understand why I say this who wants to be stuck with a machine that no longer works. What version of US firmware would you download?

Bought the DLO Action Jacket – the arm band for the e200 series at BestBuy today when I purchased my e250.About the only thing I am missing at this point is a charger beside the USB — that is fine for now… but I can see this being a pain in the future.

All the comments thus far have almost scared me off from getting a e260. I’m leaning towards the Samsung YP-Z5. However, the Samsung does not do playlists on the fly. Does the e260 have this capability? I never really listen playlists more than once. What I’m actually looking for is a song que or “add to currently playing” type of feature. The lack of this feature on most mp3 players have kept me from upgraded my Zen Nano Plus to something larger. Does the Nano do this (not that I want to go back to itunes)? Thanks for any comments.

I’m wondering about using the e250 with my Mac.I know i can drag and drop in MSC mode, but what about the sansa media converter software?Is it Mac compatible?And if not, would another program work similarly?

@john,A user from the forum has successfully converted video without using the sansa media converter with quicktime using the above perameters in the screen shot in the review. however, they were unable to rotate the video 90 degrees.It is possible but we havent figured out how to do that yet.

Hey can someone help me please..what are de differences betwem a hdd and a flash memory..which one will last more.or which one is more delicate….i need this info to now if i will bye the sandisk or the zen vision m..i have a bad experience with a hdd..help me please

I Just purchased my first mp3 from newegg. It works fine on my daughters computer, but when I try to connect to my computer I get an error message “unknown device”. I’ve been through all of the troubleshooting with no luck. Any suggestions?

Hi, I recently read a lot about this player and I checked on the Sandisk website and it says “Player must be in MSC (Mass Storage Class) mode to run the firmware.”Does this mean I can change it to MSC when downloading and first installing the update then after change back to UMS. Would the firmware still have effect?Also, for people who have this, whats the average percent of the videos working after you convert =pThanks a ton, Best site in reviews!

Zach Karl: from previous posts, the only way it seems you can display album art is by copying a file names “Album Art.jpg” to the same directory as the mp3(s) you want it to accompany. If you want the album cover full screen you then have to press the center button twice.Don: yes, the e200 series lets you add/remove the currently playing song to/from an on the go playlist. Other than that you can upload .wpl or .m3u playlists.John: correction to c’s comment – I didn’t use Quicktime because you need the pro version (which I have not purchase) to convert video. Maybe ask around on other forums to see if people have successfully converted video to Motion JPEG B format using Quicktime on Mac.lauris: flash memory is more physically stable than a hard disk drive (hdd) in the case of drops or taking it with you on a bullet train. However if you don’t think you’ll be dropping it and you’ll probably upgrade in a year or two, just get a hdd player with a decent waranty. The advantage is MUCH more memory for roughly the same price.jomomma: the upgrade doesn’t change much, so it’s only worth updating if you’re having problems. However as a general rule you should upgrade to the latest firmware.Wade: try disconnecting all other usb devices (except mouse and keyboard if usb) before connecting it and see if that works. If not try installing the software. If you’ve already done that, I don’t know what the issue could be.sherman: yes, switch to MSC, upgrade firmware as instructions state, then you can switch back to MTP and the firmware will be upgraded.

Anyone rip any full movies from DVD and play them on the player? Were there any issues? I have been researching this player before they even came out. How does it look at sound when playing movies? How about MP3s. I can’t find a single place that has one available to play with. Does the FM tuner work OK?Note: Also Circut City has the 6gb player avail for online only order as of this morning.

Does anyone know if there are any specifications on what type of USB to AC converter that you can use with the E250 to charge the battery without plugging it into your computer. I found one today at Target that has an output of 5.0V / 500mA and only cost $15.00. I want to make sure that it is OK to use this device to charge my e250.

I am really trying to see if the video piece will work. I went and found one at a BB store finally. My initial impressions are better than what I was expecting. The wheel is not as flimsy as people are saying. Yes, its way different than the ipod, but I was OK with it. The FM had a little to be desired, but since I did not move around with it, and it was in the store, it might do better outside. There was a demo video of star wars. The sound was good, the bright colors do seem to get washed out. The photos seemed to be a little blury but they are OK for the size, and its not a photo viewer. I have not bought one yet. I am thinking of buying one a BB and then playing with it and then taking it back. I want to be able to put on TV shows and possibly videos when I travel. I wanted to see if you could mess with the settings in the properties files and get it to work before they put the video limit. CC does have a great return policy, and if you buy something else for 30 you can get their 299 financing. Its still on CC for 269.

smeakim, you should come on over to the ABi forum for the Sansa at http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=9 . There has been a bunch of information already put in there about messing around with the settings for the video.BTW, I did order mine from CC (e270), and they state it will be to me on 5/16.

I just got the Sansa e260 at CircuitCity last night, ordered it “online” in the store to get the best price.I like it so far, but am starting a personal campaign to get Sandisk to “Audible Ready” the thing …. urg.I have Audible.com account and my device for that, besides my computer, is/was a Zire 31 that the screen went nuts the other week and is usable under a blue and orange blob covered screen, which makes it totally unusable except for “by chance” tapping the right place on the screen to load audible and then tapping the right spot “by chance” to play whatever audible book is there on SD card. It’s out of warranty and not worth getting fixed, unless I can fix it, once I get the right Torx driver bit to open it up and fix it myself IF it’s doable.All a long story just to say, I knew that the Sansa e200 series wasn’t really “Audible Ready” though many sites out there on the web say they are … but I know SanDisk CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN, and SHOULD since their other devices are Audible Ready and why not these? Subscription friendly means Audible, to me, at least.Short story, so far I do like the e260, though I’m still doing my initial playing with it. I put it in UMC mode to drag and drop file folders, my prefered method since I rip my CD’s at higher rates than I want to put on my devices [WMP won't "convert" during Sync'ing on my WinXP MCE 2005 computer, which is my main computer with all the music files, so whatever my habits of listening are, I can only really use any device to manually add what I want on it.] I put my music in Artist/Album/Songs hierarchy, and on the e260 I put the “folder.jpg” for each album in the album folder with the songs for the album, and the art shows up correctly when playing that music on the device. FWIW.

OK I wanted to say something about upgrading to firmware version 1.00.12. If you have Xbox360, you need that update in order to have your songs recognized on it. After you update to V. 1.00.12 you have to format your player and then re-upload all of your media for it to work right with Xbox360.To the guy asking about putting full DVD movies on the player, I’ve tried putting 20 minute clips on there and it played the first 5 minutes and the last 2 minutes. I think that it’s only meant to play short clips. I’ve downloaded music videos on my e260 using the Sansa Media Converter and they play fine from beginning to end. It’s just the longer videos that get clipped.

Hello all – Just picked up a e260 @ CC. Everything works as far as transferring tunes (WMP10, Rhapsody To Go, etc). I cannot, however, get the Sansa Media Converter to recognize the e260 when I have it connected!!! This, of course, means I have not been able to transfer *any* video or pictures to the machine. Anyone else have this problem? Like I said, everything else seems to work perfectly and the computer definitely knows its there; there seems to be something wrong with the Media Converter – and I am stressing out over the fact that I haven’t seen any other indication that this is a problem for anyone else…

BB in Des Moines, Iowa just got the DLO action jackets (armband) for the sansa e200 series players. Picked one up for $30. Makes taking this thing to the gym a lot easier and I’m a lot less worried about the screen now.On a separate note, does anyone think the 2 year extended warranty through BB is worth getting? I got burned on a previous HDD based player and wished I had purchased the extended warranty.

Hey i have a problem with my sansa ..what happens is that after i transfer music in the mtp form when im going to disconect it i dont find the icon where i can disconect safely the player, so i have to disconect the usb without clicking anything before..i fear this can be harmful for the player..I guess if someone can help mesorry for the englishThank you

[lauris on May 14, 2006 01:36 PM said: "Hey i have a problem with my sansa ..what happens is that after i transfer music in the mtp form when im going to disconect it i dont find the icon where i can disconect safely the player, so i have to disconect the usb without clicking anything ..."]Lauris — The above is true for me in MTP mode as well. When I first connect there is an icon in the Sys Tray, then it goes away way before I would ever be ready to disconnect.I use Win XP MCE 2005, btw.

I charge mine using the Xbox 360 usually and I never really thought about trying to safely disconnect it but then that’s why I bought the 2 year extended warranty.. it was 40 bucks but if anything ever goes wrong with it I get my money back no questions asked.All I’ve noticed about the firmware upgrade is the ability for my Xbox360 to recognize and play all of the songs, but no matter what you think it does, SanDisk encourages you to upgrade to the newest firmware as it becomes available..I’m going to go get the DLO Action Jacket now!!

HI allGot my sansa e250 yesterday, am really pleased with it. On advice of Sansa tech services about the existance/non existance of an FM tuner in the ones made in Europe I bought one having been told I could just download the american firmware to make the fm tuner work. Well if you are in the UK you cannot download the firmware for US, we have tried and it recognises that you have the european version of the firmware and that you are in the UK.. so could someone please email me the US firmware file? Thanks!Can’t believe Sansa were so silly to even suggest that I could do this.. surely they knew you couldn’t!Nadine

Hi. I’m hoping someone who has had the Sansa e260 for a while can reply. I hate the nano and I tried the samsung z5. It was really cool and I did get used to the touch pad. It took a while, but it is a great little unit (volume could be a little higher though). Battery life and performance was tops on that machine. However, I was interested in the e260 because it plays video. I’m not sure how often I would put clips on, but it’s a nice little feature to show off. I just want to know if the unit itself is working fine for those of you who have had it for a while. I ended up buying one last night and it seems great so far. It’s a little heavier than the Samsung but it seems good except for the cheap earplugs….Samsung has really good ones with the Z5. Anyways, if someone can shed some light, let me know. Thanks a bunch.

The video feature works great.. the picture is really crisp considering the size of the screen. I have put clips up to 15 minutes long on it and it played them perfectly, however when you put a longer video on it tends to clip out the middle of it.. the headphones were kinda crappy, but I purchased a set of Sony’s for 8 bucks and problem solved. You can make playlists on it, but I haven’t played with that quite yet. The music library does indeed alphabatize your songs (have you even turned this on?) Anyways, have fun with it. The Sansa kicks Ipods arse!

I think this mp3 player is great. I went to the BestB* with the idea of an iPod nano, but I change my mind when I saw this little wonder (e250). The only problem I had (and that why I returned for the same) was that it freeze (the only way to unfreeze was discharge the battery) when I was listen it. Anybody had the same problem? I exchange for the same model and I like not to return it again the next time it happen and exchange it for and ipod nano.

It IS going to happen again because the same exact thing happened to me. I ended up calling SanDisk and they told me to remove the four small screws in the backing plate, exposing the battery. Remove the battery and then hold the on/off button for 20 seconds then release it. Replace the battery and turn on the player to make sure the battery is in correctly. Then put the backing plate back on and this will not happen again. The woman at technical support told me that it is some type of safe mode that is used for the shipping process… I don’t know if that is totally right but just follow those steps and you won’t have any future troubles with screen freezes. After I returned mine for the second player, I bought BB’s 2 year extended warranty and I encourage anyone that has the opportunity to do the same

-Just got the e260, and it’s great! My only problem is trying to load the v12 firmware; I get an error message that the “application failed to read the version database”. I have an email in to SanDisk support, but can anyone shed any light on this? Thanks!

EnzoTen,Thanks for creating the thread, but I think maybe there is some confusion here.. Although the machine itself has V12 of the European firmware, it is not that that is stopping me from downloading the US one, it is the fact that the website with the US firmware on it will not let me download it as it knows I am in the UK! Thus, why I asked if anyone in the US could send me the file…Hope it is clear now?Thanks againnadine

Basically, it comes down to three MP3 players. Ipod Nano, Samsung Z5 and Sansa e260. I’ve tried all three. The Nano was hell for me. It took me literally 3 hours to get my song list on!! That wasn’t fun and that was the deciding factor in returning it. For some people, it’s probably a gift from heaven, but personally I couldn’t stand the procedures involved and how it was shutting down my PC a lot….also it was just too small (Yes just a tad….and too glossy). The Samsung Z5 was superb in performance. No complaints. The touchpad did take time to get used to, but all in all I can’t say anything negative about it. It was annoying sometimes when you’d press down a little too much and skip a tune or a pic, but it wasn’t a deciding factor in not keeping it. Then I came across the Sansa……It was fully loaded. While I must admit that the Samsung seems superior in build and design, the Sansa has too many bells and whistles on it. I simply couldn’t resist! I’ve read some stories about it acting up, but with any machine, you will find defective ones. Also more than likely, people don’t READ INSTRUCTIONS and of course they will have malfunctions. None of them are perfect, you will find fault with any mp3 player. All in all, I’m happy with this one and I love the video feature. It’s just cool to put your kids videos on there………That being said, I’m sticking with the Sansa even though I see a preview for a MPIO “SOLID” which looks appealing but isn’t available in my area. So Sansa it is!

re: my earlier post regarding my firmware woes– I had removed most of my other USB peripherals, but I neglected to shut down my external hard drive… this seems to be what confused the application. Maybe my mistake can help the next person though; I can always serve as a bad example!

ummm its me again i dont know if anyone can answer me this question but i like to jump on my trampoline and listen to music do u think it could with satnd some bouncing around because my ipod mini did?

Q:The sansa e200 series (like the nano and shuffle) are flash based – no moving parts. The ipod mini was a hard drive with moving parts. The sansa will be fine.Question for anyone who’s had one at least 2 weeks:Any crashes? Does it crash frequently? I’m so close to returning my z5 for an e260 but I’m scared about it crashing and breaking down earlier than the z5 would have.

i showed all my friends the new one they were all like i got one of those how much i was like 160 there jaws dropped so i dont know if there gonna get but they were its an amazing macine 10 out of 10 good job sandisk

HjulskovCould you please send me the exact file that you have on your player as I am keen to get the radio to work.. there is nothing there to even siggest it has one built in… on yours where do you find it? In which menu ie settings etc..Thanks in advanceNadinenadine.hill@btinternet.com

Does it play mp3?Ah and…does it display song names in Chinese?Does it have a connector for headphones?Did I forget…does it display song names in Chinese?I don’t know if I should buy this…please help.Did I mention that I need a device that’s able to display song names in Chinese? All songs overall the world have song names in Chinese and it would be horrific if it couldn’t reliably display these names!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I purchased my E250 two weeks ago and have not experienced any problems thus far…I have gotten a couple a scrathes on the screen so I’m looking for a armband to purchase…We don’t have a Best Buy here so I have to find one on-line…Does anybody have anymore suggestions for an armband other than DLO Action Jacket ???Keeping warm in AKD-Luv

Firmware bugs that I noticed:* Here’s exactly what I did: I uploaded a single folder of mp3s with japanese tags on them. Given that there is no asian font support, the song names appeared as boxes (that’s okay). However, I hit the record button accidentally, so I selected “no” for “save recording?” At this point, the firmware stalled. The only thing that worked was scroll wheel (which let select between “cancel” and something else… I forgot), and the lock switch. When connected to the USB port, it does indicate charge on the screen, but no USB connection. None of the buttons worked, so I could not even reset the device. I took it back to the store for the replacement unit.What I would want in future firmware updates:* Asian (Japanese, Korean, Chinese) text support. SanDisk’s firmware programmers must have gotten lazy…* Software lock option for the record button. The record button is so conveniently located that I can imagine myself accidentally pressing this thing again.

So I’m curious about this so I’d thought I’d ask a few questions.1. So far what has firmware updates fixed so far?2.In US, what are the prices for the e250,260, and the 270?3.Can you reccomend cheaper accesories?cases,chargers,memory card things,etc.)4.Do I need to purchase any programs to convert videos on to it.Like to watch shows and such on it?5. How many songs can the models hold(the 250,260,270) estimating each song at 4 min.?6.What about the MicroSD memory card things,like how are the average memory capicites(I probably spelled wrong),and how are the prices of them,like the ones with most memory prices(US)Any help will be appreciated, I’m just catching up to modern technology. I still use a 3 disc CD stereo player since 1998 and a cheap $15 portable CD player,so I’d figure its time I get something else.6.

1. Firmware fixed numerous small problems, such as songs not appearing in the same order that they do on the original album.2. Go to “froogle.com” and type in “sansa e250″ etc to get prices for the units.3. There’s not many accessories yet.4. You don’t need to purchase any programs.5. Assuming they’re 128 kbps MP3, the e250 will hold 500 songs, the e260 1000 songs and the e270 1500 songs.6. Micro SD cards currently have a maximum capacity of 1GB. You’re probably looking at US$80-US$100, but try froogle.com for the latest prices.Good cheer,Scotty

Well folks, I have had the E260 for 3 weeks, bought with firmware 12A, fooled around with constantly and my opinion is as follows….Glitches – Absolutely none once you realize it’s something you’ve overlooked. Point in question. Laptop wouldn’t recognize the player. Quick call to support and I might add, it was a pleasure talking to them, was told to go to settings, USB, select MSC and everything was okey dokey. Other than that….zip. Have heard little problems such as not returning to the song you are playing when going back to the song list or volume resetting. Hasn’t happened to me…when buying, make sure the current firmware is 12a.Sound Quality – Come on guys, this is what it’s all about. Went out and bought the Sennheiser CX300. Absolutely beautiful. Clean bass, crisp treble, of course depending on the quality of music your slapping on the unit. I take my music directly fron CD’s and iron them out to MP3′s/WMA’s. Complaining about there’s no equalizer. Easy fix. Now there’s ton’s of software out there but I have great success with Acoustica. As I rip these suckers, it normilizes the volume so there all the same, I increase the bass and lower mid range one notch and load them. Unbelievable sound quality. I have 3 teenagers and they and their friends can’t believe it, even though there not crazy about my choice of music. Then again, I can’t stand theirs.Video – I don’t care what anyone says, the quality is much more than I expected. Clear, crisp and easy to watch and I wear reading glasses. Also, I don’t understand the problems I hear about video sound. It sounds great. These twirps that knit pick about anything are looking for the perfect unit. There is no such thing cause next week there’s going be something bigger and better and that’s life in the fast lane.Battery – Always 20hrs +. Watch Braveheart and listen to music and it lasted just over 15 hrs.Other Features – FM…no complaints. When you have good reception, she sounds great. Recording FM/voice, totally acceptable. Navagation – all you duds with chubby fingers, stop complaining. This unit is a breeze to navigate.Looks…..what can you say…sexyMemory…4 gigs of flash and expandable. I can play football with this sucker and she laughs at it. All you guys that trip out about 30/60 gigs. What the hell are you going to do with that. I have access to just under 1000 songs and I can put most of it on the expandable memory alone. I can put full length movies on it and still have more memory than I need. I think people have to start remembering why you have a player. Sound quality.I won’t bore you anymore but I can say you won’t be disappointed with this purchase. Your getting a lot of machine in comparison to what’s out on the market today. My teenagers friends have them all and I have seen, played with and heard them. I have yet to see anything that compares to what you get with this sucker.One more note, two of my son’s friends have the Ipod. Guys, there ain’t no comparison with sound quality and I play 3 instruments and have been around the block a few times. Also, their software sucks and they control everything you try to do with it. I’m a computer consultant and know my way around, have loaded their software once, restored my computer and will never do it again. There may be other players out their just as good but none better. After all…have I ever lied to you before.

hi guys i just ordered the e250, and i have one question:let’s say i have napoleon dynamite in AVI that’s ~700mb; what will happen when I try to convert it and put it on the 2mb e250, Just the video and about

When I purchased e250, it came with a number of sample songs. First, I switched the mode from MTP to MSC and deleted all of those samples. However, there still one folder name shows up on my e250 screen as “Single” and the song name in there as “Danny Boy”. It appears there’s no data (bytes) for this song so it doesn’t play either. When I searched the entire e250 flash memory, those two names are not showing up. Any suggestions how to delete them completely?

I bought my e200 yesterday on sale at Best Buy. It was an absolutely awesome deal. I bought an iPod mini back in August and after a month, it broke down. They sent me a refurbished replacement which broke the second I plugged it into my computer. And Friday, my THIRD iPod mini’s battery died. I had that one since October. Not even 7 months later, it’s a $200 paperweight. The iPod’s warranty is a load of crap, so i gave up and bought this gem yesterday.So far, it’s been awesome. It’s tiny, it’s got GREAT audio and video playback, the FM Radio sounds great, and I got SO MANY songs and videos on there…and I still have almost 2 GB left! (By the way, I bought a 4 GB). It just went on sale for $199 at Best Buy yesterday, so if you’re looking into one, hurry and get your hands on this one.It’s got a flash drive instead of a disk drive (like the creative zen vision:m, which is what I originally wanted). But I chose this smaller one because it’s, well, smaller, lighter, and it won’t skip when I go running unlike the disk drive mp3 player.Based on my history with Apple’s customer service and shoddy prodcuts, I bought the 2-year product protection plan at Best Buy for only $30 which guarantees I can just get the whole product replaced instead of sending it in to get fixed. I also bought an arm band/belt clip for it and I was still almost $30 cheaper than the Creative product before tax was included.Excellent deal. I love it so, so, so much. I am the envy of all my friends.

HELP!!!! I was upgrading the firmware on Sansa e260, I followed all the instructions, the procces go to end!!! great… but when I tried to turn on my unit it get me a message:Load main image failedswitch to recovery modeWhat can i do?!?!? can someone help me!?!?!

Dennis, please read the posts above yours about halfway. There are a bunch of them listed on how to flash the firmware in recovery mode. A little searching will give you the answer!There is also the forums as an option…

dennis, it’s been addressed a couple of times in this. it’s easy to fix too. follow these steps:To load the firmware through recovery mode, turn player off, then put the “hold” button on, next hold down the record button and connect it to the computer, it will turn on automatically, hold the record until the the computer recognizes the devices and it says connected.Next reloaded the firmware and everything should work fine.

So, I’ve had my e260 for about a month and a half now and its worked quite well especially after the upgrade to forware version 1.00.12. Today, I’m trying to change songs and instead of lighting up the way it does after pressing a button, it sort of lights up on the screen but stays black.. The song changed still but what the heck was that I wondered. About 3 minutes later I did the same thing, trying to skip to the next track, instead of showing the screen, it lights up but this time its all white. I pressed the on/off key and instead of turning off, it actually rebooted itself.. I guess the little guy knew what he had to do to fix itself, but I was wondering if this has happened to any other e200 owners.-Also have been wondering.. could SanDisk boost the sound with a firmware upgrade or is that an impossibility?

I find these units quite unattractive visually. Havn’t got my hands on one so maybe the pictures are not the best but I would say that this maybe one of the downsides to the product.Still maybe the next revision .. MP3 players are often seen by people as a fashion accessory. Most people “buy wih there eyes”Just a thought that the manufacterers may like to look into

These players look gross & dumpy. Even if i wanted to play mp3s (who in their right mind would ever play an mp3 when they can choose aac), I would not choose any of these sandisk models. Simply grotesque.

SanDisk is way ahead of any other brand if you ask me and we arent limited to mp3′s. I can view pictures and most importantly Video. Something I have yet to see from any other flash driven player. I kinda agree though after looking at the pics above in the review.. it doesn’t give the best perspective of the player. Makes it look a lot bigger and bulkier than it really is.Anyway, Jason, go back to your Ipod, keep listening to Top 40, and conform to whatever Mtv tells you to do

279 bucks for a 6GB player? I don’t get it. And I REALLY don’t get what’s wrong with the iPod. I love the idea of alternatives and competition, but I’ve been really pleased with mine and remain completely underwhelmed by its competitors.

Quite a misinformed view of Quicktime, this in the review:”SanDisk used QuickTime probably because it is the only thing that the PortalPlayer chip can play. The QuickTime format is an extremely inefficient antiquated format, compared to new formats today. When SMC converts a 175MB XviD 20 minute file it will result in a 200MB+ QuickTime file with half the pixel size, half the frame rate, and a much lower bitrate audio track.”Quicktime is a file format; inside it you can have diverse video and audio codecs, such as H.264 (which beats DiVX in quality vs size) or the oldie MJPEG which seems to be what they are supporting.

I agree with steve (this isn’t THE steve now is it?). I can understand that people don’t want to buy an iPod, for many different reasons. But the website iDon’t is a bit harsch when your own mp3 player looks very close to the iPod Nano. Also other players are trying to imitate. This is absolutely not neccesary. The first, other than the Ipod, original unique mp3 player that delivers quality will be the one I will buy. But as long as companies try to imitate, I’ll just go for the original, cause everybody knows that you lose quality with each copy you make!

Hey, i got a problem.. I got my Sandisk e260 (4GB) and it worked like the first minute i had it in my hand.. Then the roatating thing just start to light blue all the time and the mp3 turned off. i cant get the light away and i cant turn on my mp3.HELP ME!

hi, i have a kinda BIG question,I just recieved the Sansa and it is charging for the first time, after it has been locked down and I had to reset it.Right now on its first charge it says connected and the charging symbol is on the bottom right screen. I don’t know why the screen backlight never turns off. Do i have to set this on the menu after the first charge?!?

I got the e260 some time ago, but the european version does not have the radio feature(why oh why?), back when it was released the european version lacked only the on the fly FM recording. So could the radio be unlocked somehow by applying the american firmware upgrade or tinkering with the files in the data folder of the player?

This player speaks for itself and whenever I have it attached on the armband I get great comments on it.. It’s no imatation to anything, in fact, SanDisk was one of, if not THE first company to use flash technology when those little flash drives came onto the scene. I’m glad apple makes their shoddy, communistic little players though, because I hate having the same thing as everyone else. I’m also glad that I don’t have to convert every audio file I download with iTunes. And if I was about 13 I guess I would be posting BS in the ipod forums too…

SanDisk spambots with links to this forum from the idont website, pretending to spearhead an anti iPod movement under the guise of a revolutionary website, when in reality they are both owned by Sandisk…What a pathetic attempt to astroturf some iPod users away.You don’t like iPod? Don’t buy one. Don’t like white earbuds, replace them. They both play MP3′s and videos. You are in no way bound to iTunes Music store if you can get your hands on MP3′s (just like this product).This might not be a bad product, but the astroturfing pisses me off.

What is bringing in all these Ifags? It’s really annoying. You can see that this site is obviously not for you in the URL name alone.. Why don’t you stay in your little Ipoop forums and we’ll stay in ours. At least 2 of my friends have Ipod Nano and are pissed that they didn’t wait to get the Sansa E200.. nuff said. You like Apple so much? That’s great, go tell someone who cares. You are preaching to the wrong crowd in here, fellas

Whats bringing in all the Ifags and Iretards is them not being able to have the greatest MP3 player in the world so all of u Apple freaks stay off our forum and have fun with ur crappy and obsolete players on a lighter note i fixed mi problem so disreguard my last 3posts

For those people who are a little disappointed with video file size or the quality of the audio in your video files, then you can manually change the editor settings for the Sansa Media Converter.The file can be found in C:\Program Files\SanDisk\Sansa Media Converter\Profiles\SanDisk_E200_MSC.apr or _MTP.apr. Open this in notepad to manually edit.Under the OPTIMIZE section you can change the video bitrate quality of “70″ to a lower setting if wanted. This will result in lower video quality, but also in smaller files sizes. At a settings of 30 the video quality starts to get lots of fuzz.Also under the same OPTIMIZE section, you can INCREASE the audio quality in your video files. I was a little disappointed with my music videos sounding like junk in the player. Change the AudioBitrate and the AudioSmplrate from 11025 to either 22050 or 44100. The audio will then sound much better. Please note this does increase the video file size.Finally, under Transcode the SplitTime=600 splits your video files at 10 minutes, or 600 seconds. Increase this to increase your video files.

Now some tips for ppl having hanging e200.Unzip the e200fw01.00.xx.exe to directory.You will see SKU_A & SKU_E directory. Most prob is US firmware & UK firmware, too bad, nothing for the Chinese ppl.- Switch off the set, set hold button on, hold the rec button down & switch on the set.- Connect USB cable.the ROM drive will appear, just copy the US or UK firmware in.- Unplug cable, restart the player.BINGO!

I see to many ipod in my gym, its annoying, I’m glad I got the E250 really happy with it , Its better than the Ipod , to the ipod lovers we dont like to be an Ipaid too much fallowers, we get more bang for our bucks, your just getting suck in by apple media hype $$$$$$$, now go listen to your itune , because u guys are tuning to the wrong forum

I find the “iDon’t” mascarade completely revolting. You sound like a bunch of frustrated marginals, saying as soon as someone comes in saying that maybe if the iPod sells so well it’s because it might not be absolute crap after all, that he’s a iSheep or whatever … bullshit. You’re manipulated by Sandisk as much as I’m manipulated by the Apple-iPod consortium.While you’re at it you might wonder about the ethics of a ad campaign where you start by insulting every single iPod-user when you should be showing them what’s interesting about the e200.PS. I’m French and my English is not great, so sorry if I made any mistakes.

Wheres the site administrator to delete these senseless comments?Ipod sucks and as for a lame copy, everyone who buys an Ipod only does so as a means to conform to the likes of everyone else. Just check out the stats.. The Sansa is better

I thought I might just add that to my mind, the iPod was very successful because it’s very simple to use. And when I read the troubleshooting posts, the solutions struck me as being painfully difficult, involving opening obscure directories or similar high-risk manoeuvers. Then again, as I’ve never used a PC, I’m maybe not aware that this is a part of ordinary life for a PC-user. With my iPod it’s just plug-sync-play. And, guys, this is not an Apple ad or whatever, I’m just sharing my experience of MP3 players, limited as it may be. Thought you might want to have the other point of vue, the MP3-player market is not all black and white you know (ha ha ha). Long live Apple.

When I purchased my e260 from Best Buy I went to the customer service desk and asked the person in charge of ‘returns’ which player they saw come back the most… answer was Ipod. Just go post your comments elsewhere. This is for Sansa owners or “anything but ipo.d” You have your own forums so why don’t you save it for them. Maybe they care.

RETURNED NANO FOR THIS REASON: the fast forward speed was hideous! i listen to podcasts everyday, the majority of which are 30 minutes and higher. if i am unable to finish a certain show, i will resume that show at another time. it took FOREVER to fast forward on the nano, so i returned it. what is the speed on this lil guy? i own a zen micro and the speed on this is great. this is the longest thread i’ve ever seen.

Uhh, sorry, no offense, but you should have returned your brain instead. I just checked, it took me about 4 seconds to jump to a 48 min position in an hour long podcast on my Nano. The scrollwheel is there for a reason!

Thanks! I let you guys talk me into getting one of these devices. Yep. Thanks a bunch.It does video…. If you don’t mind watching your movies in 10 minute increments. WTH? What freaking good is this?It has an EQ… Every setting is Super Muffle mode. There is not a bit of difference between any setting. It cuts the audio output by 50%. WTH? What freaking good is this?It has a scroll wheel…. A real freaking mechanical scroll wheel with buttons so close to it you have to have children’s fingers to use them. The wheel is not that easy to use. You at least have to admit that!It displays Photos… What’s up with all the washed out colors? Did someone smear Vasiline on my screen while I wasn’t looking, or are the pictures supposed to be that blurry?Where are the games, calendar and address book?I do like the fact it has a battery that can be replaced with ease and the Liquid Metal backplate, but come on guys this thing has some issues. Lighten up with the “This is going to put Apple out of business” hype. This unit is not quite there.And yes I really bought one at Best Buy. it’s a SDMX4-2048-A70 // 80-56-01555-2048 on sale for $149.99 after the $30 instant rebate? Is this the right unit? Is this the thing you guys are going nuts over?I am going to return it less that 24 hours after I bought it. I’m going to move upwards in technology. I’m going to get an 8-track tape player!

I’ve Seen this before. The reason these Itards are here is because of fear. They can’t stand seeing a product with features they don’t have and that is just generally better.To justify their horrid purchase and to feel better about their sad sheep mentality in buying the device everone else has they have to come on these forums and troll and naysay. I feel bad for them.Hopefully the casual buyer will recognize this foolishness for what it is. I’ve never been disappointed by SanDisk, and the e200 series looks fantastic.

I don’t think SanDisk is trying to put Apple out of business by any means. I am, however, glad that there is some option for those who would rather think for themselves than follow all of the ‘isheep.’ Not to mention it being the superior alternative in my opinion.I’ll admit before I got the Sansa, I was all gung ho about buying a 4gb iPod nano and I didn’t even know why. Perhaps the million commercials, billboards, and streetsigns had leaked into my subconcious. Thankfully, I recieved the e200 as a gift before I could join the iHerd.You can say how the e200 doesn’t have a custom EQ, or that you don’t like the mechanical scroll wheel or button layout. But what this player may lack in these areas, it is more than dexterous in others.The selling points to those previous and current iPod users are this:•Removeable/Replaceable battery•Expandable Memory via Micro SD (up to 2gb)•1.8″ Beautiful Color Screen•Clear, Crisp VIDEO capability•Not dependant on prgs such as iTunes•Plays MP3 and WMA•FM Radio•Voice/FM Radio recorderIf any of these things are important to you, maybe the SanDisk e200 series is what you’ve been looking for. After all they were one of the first companies to utilize flash technology. And no, I don’t work for SanDisk (lol) I just know that they are a good company and this player rocks!Also about the games, calendar and address book… isn’t that what your cell phone is for?

Hi, I have a problem with my Sansa e250 mp3 player. I was downloading music on it and everything was ok. but next time when i connected the player into computer i saw some new folders and datas (they had names like ” |a” etc.)when I try to open the folders or delete them, computer shown me an error that the computer can’t open the files from the sansa disk, so I can’t delete them too. After that when I turn on the player and there was “refreshing database” and player had stopped the refreshing for a minute. when the refreshing is complete, the player do not see the new tracks, which I have transfered to player (I can only listen those, which were transfered when there was now error with the new folders). CAN SOMEONE HELP ME?? Please give me an answer what should I do with this. I realy have no ideas…

HI EVERYONE, UMM I BOUGHT MY E260 YESTERDAY AND I LOVE IT!!! but i was having a bit of trouble getting songs on but i got the swing of things now…What i want to know is how do you delete the songs/photos/videos that come with the mp3 player?

I was considering buying the E260 purely because I like the idea of upgrading the memory – albeit with microSD (which will soon deliver a 2GB card). Also, having 6GB as a starting point is great.However, I have been put off by the comments about the loose mechanical wheel, no easy access to volume control at any time, the slight noise (in headphones) at low levels. SanDisk also fail to provide full audio details. i.e. Signal to Noise ratio? Impedance: 32 ohms? Headphone Output: Left 28mW + Right 28mW – what is it exactly?http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=1299I was kind of taken by this little 2GB thing:Monolith Premium MX7000http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?products_id=1181There’s a company who do nice skin options too:http://metalskin.co.kr/shop/shop/main.php?page=view_item&class_id=1&item_id=7&PHPSESSID=655d3333e9b4ac4973ec888017ee6e26i know everyone here is sansa crazy – and i’m almost convinced too.i’d just be curious to hear what you think about this alternative.one last thing, this will be my first mp3 player – i hate mp3′s to tell the truth. at a push i’ll take wma. but, if GBs were no object i would chose wav everytime. sadly, i have to compromise! i am a recording and mix engineer. my hearing (thankfully) is perfect – it has to be. my headphone of choice is Grado RS1 – arguably the best reference headphones in the world, especially in the fussy audiophile world!http://www.gradolabs.com/frameset_main.htmi’m telling you this so you have an understanding of how ‘particular’ i am about sound quality look forward to hearing your views.many thanks

No I didn’t do nothing. I just received It 2 days ago, and transfered the music. next day I transfer another songs and the player stayed plugged into USB for 2 hours. then I tried to listen new music, but the refreshing was very long (2-3 minutes) and the player didn’t saw new tracks. so I connected It to computer and I saw that there are some new folders and files. I try to open them but I can’t. so I thout that I have to erase them to correct player working, but the computer says that “You can’t load those files from H disc”. I tried anythong but I can’t erase them :/ Apart of this the player works well, but I can only listen to the older songs and can’t transfer new:[the new folders and files have stupid names like “|a” or haven’t. I can’t read them, erase them or change them. the player don’t read them too.any ideas?

We are a XSKN from China an iPod silicone case company. I love this new player. It is about time that someone gives Apple a run for their money. We will buy one and start making silicone cases for it.PS。 love the ad

…..I hadn’t updated the firmware (I don’t know how to do it ) and I don’t know how those files which I can’t erase are in the player. The music ,which I was transfering to my player, was from various www and download programs (mayby without license), and a few of them the player had’nt play and skip for another track, so I delete them. Mayby it’s the reason of my problem? Now I download music from rhapsody but ealier I download it from emule and edonkey. Please help me…

Grande, you can start by plugging your player into your computer and go to ‘my computer,’ find The icon for Sansa and right-click it. Click the button that says REFORMAT. This will erase everything from your player and hopefully get rid of those ghost files as well.Once you do this, you are ready to upgrade your firmware. If you go to SanDisk’s website they walk you through all of the steps. I’m not quite sure how to give you the link but the URL is:http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/Default.aspx?CatID=1368If you need any further assistance, just click the FORUMS button at the top of this page navigate to the Sansa e200 section. There’s a ton of threads in there that can help you with ANY problem you might encounter.

“The Whip”: If I do the ReFormat of the player I will erase the firmware and have to transfer new? and after that I will loose the guarantee for the player? it’s important for me, because I’m from Europe and I received this player as a gift from my uncle in USA. a can send it to him and try to do it on the guarantee, but it’s a problem so i rather like to do it in person (so i have to know what will happen after format and new firmware instalation with the guarantee). please answer me:)

Reformatting won’t void your warranty by any means and neither will updating the firmware. SanDisk encourages you to upgrade the firmware to the latest version as it come available. So far there has been only one update (v. 1.00.12).I am not sure about the European firmware to be honest. The link that I gave you is for the American Firmware Version 1.00.12. If you need help finding it or installing it just give SanDisk a call. They are not open on weekends but I have had to call Technical Support a couple times and they are extremely helpful and will walk you through this, step-by-step. I would list the number for you but there are like 10 numbers for the European countries. Just go to http://www.SanDisk.com and you’ll find it.Also, I am not 100% sure that this will fix your problem, but it’s the first place to start. If this doesn’t correct it, then you go from there.

I just ordered the 2gb version. The price fell and a few of the major online retailers are offering a 20 rebate, no tax, free shipping. For me the $70 price difference was not worth the extra 2gbs plus down the road I can always buy a microSD card. Eventually I want to have my mp3 player in my phone but my contract aint up for awhile. I expect to get it sometime later this week.

Hi, Im thinking of getting a Sansa e270, but couldnt really be bothered to scroll through all this writing! I was just wondering if, now that they have upgraded the firmware, the player still hangs or freezes, and if the album plays in the right order? Thanks a lot

reply to mark:i am just about to return mine. i bought the 4 gig abbout 4 weeks ago. i upgraded the firmware to 12. the thing crashes all the time. one time, it crashed just when i was going for a run and i could not turn the thing off after it crashed. i had to go home, find my tiny screwdriver, and unscrew the whole thing before i could reboot the system.NOW, when i plug it in, the computer doesn’t find any of the mp3s. when i try to play mp3s, it does it in a weird order (it’s not in shuffle mode).so i give up, i’m sending mine back.

Every player has its problems doodle. If you need to, call SanDisk tech support. They helped me on a couple different issues. For the size and price and options this thing has, you can’t beat it. I have had mine for over a month and love it. And to answer Mark, I have not had any freeze ups since the upgrade and the album order is exactly the same as listed on the CD (I just checked to make sure). Is the e270 in stores yet?

Can anybody help me?……..I just got my e270, and I downloaded the new firmware to it. After refreshing the screen went dark. Now I turned it off and on………I could tell cause the rotor disk lights up……….but still a dark screen………I plug it in to my computer and it doesn’t read it at all………if anyone can help me I appreciate it cause I just got the thing.Thanks

I just received an e250 as a gift and I’ve misplaced the USB cable =( I asked the guys at RadioShack and they said that I need to get it directly from SanDisk. Does anyone know if this is true? If not, where can I get one? How much does it cost? Thanks for any help/advice you guys can give me =) Totally loving this player so far.

Hi guys,I bought 6GB e270 4 hours ago for $269.99. I never had any mp3 player and I don’t favor any brand. These are my findings:e270 is going back tomorrow morning for various reasons-high pitched noise when the song starts, it’s like the sound coming from HDD but since this is flash I don’t know what’s going on? Anyway it is very annoying-extended characters not shown properly-photo conversion is poor, photos look crappy (I know it’s MP3 player but since the feature is there it shouldn’t be crappy)-I couldn’t help it but the wheel feels awkward and my thumb is kinda numb (yes I do hate writing SMS so my thumb muscles are not so developed Cons:FM quality surprisingly goodvoice recording is a nice feature6GB is greattransfers are fastNow I’ll try iPod (I know this is anything but iPod…) but I played with z5 and almost barfed on it. Controls are really bad there. Zens and others are probably out of this category (I’ll never buy MP3 player with mechanical parts i.e. HDD, CD player etc.)This is just my personal opinion, I know some of you guys may love your Sansas.

hi, guys.i bought a e260 2 weeks ago($199.99), it worked fine untill i downloaded and installed a software called “musicmatch jukebox” to my computer yesterday. after installing, i plugged e260 into computer and deleted some music files, added some new, after i safely disconnected the player the problem occurred: 1) the e260 started with language option page, i mean every time i turn it on, it shows the language option page first, and i have to wait about 15 seconds to be able to go back to main menu by using the |

the back key, 2) it did’t show the songs i just added, and still showed the songs i just deleted. 3)no song can be played, i tried to play(go either ‘play all’ or ‘songs’ or ‘albums’), nothing worked, and the player freeze there when i try to play(no response). 4) every time i turn it on, the USB mode automaticlly change to MTP even i set it to MSC and the FM channal i added to preset is gone(tried couple times, same). i uninstalled the musicmatch jukebox but still got these problems, please help me, what should i do now?

THIS SANDISK PISSES ALL OVER THE NANO SOUND QUALITY KICKS ASS!!! THE VIDEO SOUND ISN’T THAT GREAT BUT DAMN GOOD ENOUGH.I DONT IS A BRILLIANT CAMPAIGN I DONT CARE WHAT SOME OF YOU BASTARDS SAY!!!! ANYWAYS BUY THE SANSA IMMEDIATELY THE SANSA SCROLLWEEL IS EASIER THAT THE NANO TOUCH-CRAP WHEEL.THANKS ABI I BOUGHT ONE 2 WEEKS AGO ONLY PROBLEM IS FREEZING EASILY FIXABLE BY CONTACTING SANDISK!!!!NO OFFENSE……THIS MP3 ROCKS!!!!THANKS ABI!!!!!

HELP. I erased all my music from the player and there are only the folders and files like Video etc. I turn it on and it works. then I plug it with computer. The wheel light and the screen isn’t working so I unplugged. The wheel lights and the screen don’t works and I can’t do anything with it because the computer don’t read it!! HELP ME Once again. Please!!

I just reparied it. I read on the Forum about it. The reason is that I connected it in the same time when it just turned off. to fix it I push and hang up the menu/power button for 15 seconds. It turned off:D and everything works well know. so remember sandisk players users: don’t plug your player to computer when it’s turning off!

For those others with problems.. this is a great player. As with any NEW item it’s got it’s little quirks. However most of them have been worked on and repaired once you download the new firmware. If you still have a problem after that please contact SanDisk Customer Support. It’s not worth taking the player back, trust me. This is a great Digital Media Player and probably the best one on the market thus far in terms of Flash driven players.

Hello. I recently purchased the Sansa e250 mp3 player, and have been trying to get it to work properly for the last couple of days. So far, I’ve gotten “half” of it to work. Here’s exactly what I’ve done so far:When I first connected it to one of my PC’s USB 2.0 ports, the popup window asking if I wanted to sync it to Windows Media Player showed up (I use Windows XP, by the way). I basically said ‘okay,’ and Windows Media Player 10 started up. Unfortunately, it couldn’t detect the device. I tried hitting F5 as it suggests, but to no avail. I decided to open the trusty Windows Explorer and see if the device showed up there. It didn’t. I even tried the ‘My Computer’ button on the desktop, but it didn’t show up (I’ve used Windows since version 3.1, so I’ve always used Windows Explorer; I’m not too fond of the ‘My Computer’ icon).Next, I looked around the Sansa website for help (specifically, https://www.customernation.com/pls/ps/ps_faqdb.view_faq?p_host=304&p_supplier=5096&p_parm=PSHFAQ&p_subcategory=1772&p_product=16124&p_faq_id=2094) and discovered the two different modes for the player–MTP and MSC. After discovering I was in MTP mode I tried switching to MSC, but the device still did not show up in the list of drives under ‘My Computer.’Next, I tried installing the Firmware update. I followed all the instructions to the letter, and huzzah, the device showed up on the computer exactly as the website said it would in MSC mode: two drives, the Sansa e250 and the Removable Drive. I thought my problems were over.I switched back to MTP mode, hoping that it would show up, but it didn’t. Hence my earlier statement that I got “half” of it to work. I’m starting to think that I was just unlucky and choose a faulty device. If that’s the case, I’ll just exchange it for another, but I’d like to not have to make the trip back to the store. Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thank you very much!

Hello,I bought the 4 gig at BB about a month ago and downloaded the firmware update. Less than two weeks into using it, it totaly froze. The blue scroll wheel just stayed on. I returned it for a new one and in less than 12 hours, the new one did the same thing. Consequently, I bought a Nano, which I didn’t want to do in the first place. I do miss the Sansa and still prefer it to the nano, but i really cannot trust these first generation models. When it worked, it was tops.Nick

Nick I wish you wouldve called SanDish Tech Support. The same thing happened to me upon buying mine and I called SD and they walked me through the process how to fix it and it has not done it since then. Good luck with your iDud

Ok, I have a video file that is 8 mb on my pc, when i convert it, it gets changed to 38 mbs!!! 4 times the size, and the video is being reduced in resolution – ????????? p.s. anyone knows if this player supports .3gp ?

Someone earlier said you can go toThe file can be found in C:\Program Files\SanDisk\Sansa Media Converter\Profiles\SanDisk_E200_MSC.apr or _MTP.apr. Open this in notepad to manually edit.to edit your video file, quality and audio quality. I got up to profiles but cannot open the SanDisk_E200_MSC file.I dont have the right program to play it. what should i use??btw does the player ALWAYS charge with light on, can this be chagned

Sherman,Just right click on the file and select open with, choose a text editor such as notepad.I read that post too but I dont think it will really reduce file size unless you put it to extrememly low quality. And 38mb compared to 9.5 mb is a huge difference!

I just got my e250 at Circuit City for $147 + tax (they gave me the initial sale price advertized on the Web site). So far I love it. The video playback is amazing for such a small screen. Crisp and bright and not too herky-jerky for 15 fps. True, the video files get fat after coverting them to .mov but it looks like an entire movie will fit with room to spare.I’ve browsed through this forum and found that others had the same lockup problem. I think this may be due to a low battery. Mine locked up right after I took the ‘Hold’ switch to non-orange and tried to power it up again. The blue ring lit up and stayed that way and had a black screen. After charging it for about 1/2 hr I found a section in the .pdf manual (on included CD) that said to hold down the menu (power) button for 15 seconds. That worked great. Hopefully the real problem isn’t a batch of faulty batteries.Looking forward to tweaking the video/audio quality settings to see what the best ratio is and still allow a 2 hour (or more) movie to fit in my 2 GB model.I haven’t purchased a microSD cartridge yet but it seems a shame they don’t allow movies or pictures on those. Hopefully that will be addressed in another firmware update if more people complain!Great job Sandisk!

Q,I just put the thing in MSC mode so it looks like a drive to Windows XP. I just drag my folders (in Windows Explorer) w/ the mp3′s that are named appropriately (like the band name and album name) over to the \MUSIC\ folder. I even put a small album art pic named ‘Album Art.jpg’ in the same folder and when I play a song from that folder the little thumbnail of that pic appears. Haven’t read the manual yet so I don’t know if that was even supposed to be how things normally go down.Good luck!

Q,Sounds like you might be a Mac user, yes? Anyhow, if you do use Windows XP you should be familar w/ Windows Explorer to copy/cut/paste files to and from your hard drive (C: for example). If you feel uncomfortable with that you should probably take a beginner course on working in the Windows environment (not trying to be a smartass here).Other than that, it almost sounds like you wiped out the folder structure of the e250. In Explorer, mine has several folders incl. Pictures and Video. Are you sure you went into the e250′s settings and picked ‘MSC’ mode for USB before you plugged it into the cable?

Q & Vespa,I had exactly the same problem that Q did when I used Windows Explorer in MSC mode: No “Music” folder! I was perplexed until I tried reconnecting in MTP mode & went to “My Computer”… There was an icon for the Sansa 260, and when I clicked on it, there was all my music!I’m not trying to be a music critic, but I HAD to find a way to delete “Danny Boy”!!

MacGuyver (and Q) -Really odd. Sounds like your PC’s might have trouble reading flash drives. At any rate, here’s what Win. Explorer shows when mine is plugged in as MTP:Sansa e250-Data- PHOTO- RECORD- tmp- VIDEO-Media- MUSIC- PICTURES- PLAYLISTSWhen my Sansa is in MSC mode it shows up just like any other USB flash drive:Sansa e250 J: (just happens to be that due to Windows auto-assigning the first open letter)All the folders are shown from the root:+MUSIC+PHOTOPICTURESPLAYLISTS+RECORD+SYSTEMtmpVIDEOThe only thing really difference I notice is that when I’m in MTP mode is that the ‘Sansa Media Converter’ program likes to auto-start and also requires MTP mode to convert media (pics/video) files over. I guess I’ll learn more as I go.

I didn’t think the controls and UI are good. Looks too much like an iPod. Why can’t they just use old fashioned buttons for navigation? I mean, UI’s and controls were so much easier before the stupid iPod came around.

I am thinking of starting a RockBox port for this player. I see you have already taken the Sansa apart. Can you provide detailed scans or pictures of the circuit boards? It would be helpfull if the text on the IC’s is readable. I am reluctant to take mine apart.MaCross

Hey,The clicking noise that was mentioned, I have never noticed it. I use a pair of sony head phones ( they are pretty old, I’ve had them for 7 years now) . They are over the ear style and are not earbuds. I don’t know what they are called. In anycase they have very good sound quality and I’ve never heard those clicking noises.One thing I don’t like is that music videos often convert into lower sound quality when using the video converter. I mean the sound is acceptable but compared to how mp3s sound in regular music mode, it’s definitly a big step down.In the end though, I don’t really use the video feature and I only know about the lower sound quality with videos because I decided I should at least try the video feature.Overall I love this mp3 player. I got it at best buy for $189 US, and I’m beginning to think I over paid since everyone says it’s $179 US, even the sandisk site! I think I’ll try for a refund, even if it is only ten bucks. ^_~

No flac support and the insistence on looking too much like an iPod at the detriment of usability. Too bad. Some of the bugs (for basic stuff like playing songs in their proper order) don’t sound release-quality either. Bit of a shame, SanDisk. The UMS support and expandable memory and decent screen and other dead-on features make this one come so close.

I just purchase the e260 from OfficeDepot. Everything works pretty good, alot better that the few Ipods before, just had too much problem with them.The only thing I did not understand was the MSC mode, I had not idea where to change that, but after reading the manual I finally figure it out.I installed on 2 PCs, both Windows XP, one PC had problem installing the drivers, had to manully select a portable device. Other than that, its pretty good.Just a minor concert. To fullly charge the battery, It takes over 3 hours, the screen stays the same for that period of times without a screen saver. Will that damage the screen?

Can someone advise me on how to charge this thing while travelling overseas?I don’t want to have to sit in internet cafes for three hours every few days to charge the thing.Ideally, I’d like a wall charger that can deal with different voltages, and which is very light and portable.Suggestions?

anyone who has purchased the sansa series from bestbuy in the last 14 days needs to go back and get a price match. They all went down in price by $20 dollars with an instant rebate. Remember to bring your receipt. If you’ve lost the receipt just take the credit card that it was purchased under and they should be able to find the receipt.

HiCan someone tell me if the Griffin PowerBlock AC charger for USB devices that iPod advertises will work with my SanDisk Sansa e260? Griffin says it hasn’t been tested that way and SanDisk said probably but didn’t know. I want to be able to charge my MP3 player will traveling out of the country but at the same time I don’t want to mess it up by trying to charge with something that isn’t compatible. Thanks

Hi Everyonestill experiencing with this player. I am current’y trying to figure if I can have a slideshow or a background picture on while my song is playing, not just the album picture.Cant figure out howThanks

I think you have to do it the other way around… I think you can set a song to play during your slideshow. It should be in PICTURES>SLIDESHOW OPTIONS. I have nevr used that feature but have seen it in there…

to have your songs play showing slide show first you need to go to MUSIC,first play the songs you want , hit the buttom buttom, at the MUSIC OPTION, choose, ADD SONGS TO GO LIST,click on the big round button, it will show add or remove very quickly, you can add as many songs as you want , now go to PHOTO, VIEW PHOTO LIST, MY ALBUM, hit the first pictures in your album,now hit the top buttom >>> to play the songs on your to go lisT , now your song are playing, slide slow being showed , pretty coolI hope this helpsIn order for this to work make sure you have choosen at slideshow option to play music , choose sec for the slide show

So my comp. and mp3 player is giving me so many problems. First it was the usb port 1.0 wasn’t strong enough to charge it and I was told that it wouldn’t recognize it until I upgraded it to 2.0. So I purchased the PCI card. The comp. was also giving the message that it was a hi-speed device and a low speed port would not recognize/support it. Now that I have done all of this whenever I connect the mp3 to comp. installation wizard prompts me to install the software. I chose the automatic and it still fails to install. The CD that came with it was only the media convertor for photos and videos so I didn’t think that had anything to do with music. Same thing with PCI card, prompted me to install CD, which you said was a plug-n-play device. But I talked to rep. @ Sandisk this morning and he told me switch the USB mode and try it when I get home. He also told me that it may be the drivers on the computer. I don’t think 3 different computers will give me the same problems. I tried it on Shon’s comp. and its not recognized in media player, but I tried co-worker’s computer and it was recognized in media player. WHAT DO I DO NOW?

you guys know what would be sickkkkkkkkkkkkkk??? if sandisk would release this sansa player in ceramic white. nope, not the plain white lof the apple ipods…but the ceramic white used on the sony psps. the sandisk in ceramic white with that blue wheel coming on would look sick!!!not to mention if sandisk would make a ceramic white player and the wheel in red…sickkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!let’s hope…i have e-mailed them!later guys/girls…

I got mine a week ago and it worked fine but now all of the sudden the headphone jack is screwed up… you have to wiggle it the right way or the left channel(left headphone) doesnt work… can’t put it in my pocket or it will go in and out, i’m thinking of taking the back cover off and see if something is grounding it or something but i dont have a small enough screwdriver.

Just a comment about playing order, I don’t know if the issue has been solved, but from what I’ve been able to see by comparing files from albums which were played in right or wrong order, I reckon that with ID3v1-tagged mp3, files are played in alphabetical order (even with track number in filename), when ID3v2-tagged mp3 are read in correct album order.

I just purchased the Sansa e270 at Circuit City and am having tons of problems syncing it with Rhapsody. Everything acts like it is working fine, my music appears to download to the play just fine, but when I remove the device I either receive a message that says something like ‘Sync with your music subcription service’ or that the player is Empty. This is making me very frustrated and I am about to return the player if I cannot get it to work.I have called Rhapsody about this and they said the problem is with the firmware on the player and that I should reinstall it. I have reinstalled the firmware and the update on Sandisk’s website and I am still having the same problems. If anyone can help me resolve this I would greatly appreciate it. I love the functionality of the player, I just want it to work!

this can work as just mass storage right? or do i need Rhapsody or something? Also what is the compression like with the video? Let’s say i want a full movie on there 120 min, how much space is that going to turn out to be?

i just got one of these, a 6GB version. I started it up and said “player is in hold” will restart now. so it turned off. i turn it on and nothing comes up. i connect it to my computer and it says it can’t find the device. when pluged into my computer how do i know if it is charging or not?? the scroll wheel is lite up

I would try resetting it. I had the same problem in a way when i first got my 2 gig one. did not recongnize and couldn’t turn on right. Just hold the power button hard for aprox 15 – 18 seconds and it should restart and things should be normal.

Hi all,I ordered a E250 2 Gig and cant wait to received it but at the same time this web site kind of make me wonder if I have made a good choice.I am new in the mp3 stuff and all the conversion of mp4 to mpeg, video ….ect.So if someone could lead me to any good software that is easy I would appreciate it as I read that the soft included with the Sansa is not that great.Thanks all and have fun !Marie

This site is too damned funny. The SansaSheep are all a-twitter and pretending they’re “rebels” by resisting getting an iPod, when all they’re doing is falling for some other company’s guerilla marketing campaign.I’ve owned two iPods since 2001–didn’t get them because everyone else was…got them because they’re intuitive and because they just work well.Every couple of years, someone comes out with a “iPod killer” device, but it’s always the same story–buggy, non-intuitive, and clumsy to use.I’m sorry that you can’t deal with the fact that Apple made (and still makes) a superior product. But don’t pretend you’re somehow taking a courageous stand against ‘the man’ by getting a crappy imitator–that just makes you look foolish.

MrG,I appreciate your comment and furthermore would add that you dont have to be so snappy to pass your comment.I have bougth a Sansa E250 because it is cheaper and only use it once every 3-4 months why would I pay more then the little 125.00 $ it is even to much for my use!I shoulg plug only headphone on my IPAQ and listen to my music.Please dont PISS at the World because your a big guy IPOD and dont come to our Forum to PISS on us we dont do it!!!TY and pleace find some peace!

This is a re-post but people need to see it and it was way up there^^I don’t think SanDisk is trying to put Apple out of business by any means. I am, however, glad that there is some option for those who would rather think for themselves than follow all of the ‘isheep.’ Not to mention it being the superior alternative in my opinion.I’ll admit before I got the Sansa, I was all gung ho about buying a 4gb iPod nano and I didn’t even know why. Perhaps the million commercials, billboards, and streetsigns had leaked into my subconcious. Thankfully, I recieved the e200 as a gift before I could join the iHerd.You can say how the e200 doesn’t have a custom EQ, or that you don’t like the mechanical scroll wheel or button layout. But what this player may lack in these areas, it is more than dexterous in others.The selling points to those previous and current iPod users are this:•Removeable/Replaceable battery•Expandable Memory via Micro SD (up to 2gb)•1.8″ Beautiful Color Screen•Clear, Crisp VIDEO capability•Not dependant on prgs such as iTunes•Plays MP3 and WMA•FM Radio•Voice/FM Radio recorderIf any of these things are important to you, maybe the SanDisk e200 series is what you’ve been looking for. After all they were one of the first companies to utilize flash technology. And no, I don’t work for SanDisk (lol) I just know that they are a good company and this player rocks!

MrG,I’m glad that you like your iPods !By the way, how is the battery on your 2001 iPod doing ? Still running strong ?Or you had to ship it back to Apple and spend $100 to get it replaced ?And how is your radio reception ? Did you spend $50 to get that feature into your beloved iPod ?And, did it get very scratched, or you spent another $30 to get a nice case for it ?

e270 is out in best buy now well online anyways. if i were u i would wait tho cause rite now its around $275 where i bet it would be $250 soon cause look at the e250 or e260. e250 cost goes low as $150 and e260 cost low as $200. So i wouldnt be surprise in a few weeks it would be $250

i WOULD respect the idont site created by Sandisk more if it didnt link itself to their own products. im no big fan of the ipod but this “propaganda” stuff from sansdisk is even WORSE. it just annoys the hell out of me. just because you created idont.com sandisk i might just get a ipod. idon’t like being insulted, idon’t like being called a sheep. Let people decide on their own what they want no need to run a smear campaign. sandisk you make good stuff but seriously grow the F up suck it up and innovate so people will WANT to buy your stuff geez….

I buy mine like 1 month and half ago, first i was very nervious cause i read some commentaries here that scared me, but until now i dont have ANY PROBLEM, it work perfect, syncs with my computer perfect..I was going to buy an ipod but im happy i didnt, i LOVE my sandisk

I just got in the e270 a few days ago and it’s incredible. My nephew has the Nano and besides the wheel, the Sansa kicks the Nano’s butt.Pro’s: incredible picture. Best I’ve seen yetI actually like the wheel but not as good as Nano’sUser interface – very well designedFile converter – very easy to use and automatically places it into player. Only have to use it for pics and movies.Creating playlists – on the go, very niceRating Music – very coolCons: Equalizer: dont like their preset optionsPower: music doesnt go as loud as I’d like sometimesFast Forward: have to use menu to fast forward thru a songNo stop button? You can pause a song but not stop it? Unless I’m missing it.FM reception is just average. Won’t pick up half the stations, only the strong one’s.I wish they had an option to play lists out of certain directories.I couldn’t have asked for a better purchase.Also, if you’re going to buy, go to froogle and do a search. I got my e270 for $239 where CC and BB are selling them for 279.

Bram – This is one gripe I have about this player – other than that I love it. In order to play movies you have to convert them through Sansa Media Converter to *.mov – which totally uncompresses the video thus eating up memory. I cant understand why this thing wont support .3gp when after all the screen is the size of a cell phone. .3gp files are great and take up hardly any space…To answer your question… I am assuming if you get your hands on Quicktime Pro you can convert the .3gp to a .mov and then convert it again through Sansa Media converter’s version of .mov

Visant,Thank you!! I was just about to post a message saying the exact same thing.The only thing that bugs me about iPods is that they don’t have a Radio… also why do these digital radios never seem to have an RDS decoder that works correctly??For now, I still prefer my beautiful (albeit slighltly scractched) iPod Nano… Better looking, more stable, easier and faster to use… And i did not buy it just because, I bought it because it does what I need (music and nothing else) better than the competition.Good to see someone (trying) to up the ante and give some semblance of choice though!

Had this for about a week. Have mixed feelings.Cons:1) Static before every song.2) Limited recording capacity and only in .wav format.3) Scroll wheel isn’t the best4) The volume is reset to 50% everytime it’s turned off.5) Video is choppy.6) Buttons next to the wheel are small and misplaced imo.I got it for $140 AR and tax so I can’t complain too much. Hopefully new firmware will fix the bugs, especially the static.

abi Editor's Choice

SanDisk Sansa Clip+

The Clip+ has a fantastic little form factor; somewhat cheap in build quality but very rugged. The interface is simple and relatively straightforward. The features on the Clip are more or less average, however it supports the alternative Rockbox firmware which provides tons of additional options (gapless playback, Replaygain, playlists, Last.fm scrobbling, etc). Read the full review or go ahead and buy it.

Cowon J3

The J3 is a fantastic PMP with a very nice AMOLED screen and tons of features. It sports Cowon's trademark BBE sound enhancements, and offers a customizable user interface with strong support by our user community. You can usually find it at Amazon for the best price - and don't forget to check out our review.

Microsoft Zune HD

Sure, many of us are not big fans of the walled garden, but there are a lot of great things going on with the Zune: sturdy hardware, ultra easy to use user interface, and a media player that is worthy of Editor’s Choice. You can check out our Zune HD review or stop by our Zune forums for the latest info and gossip.

Phonak Audéo PFE

Phonak Audéo PFE offer outstanding clarity and precision; natural, dynamic mids and treble, and decent bass for a single armature in-ear phone. They handle dense, complex music very well. The PFE work well with most acoustic and some electronic music genres, but bassheads might have to look at other alternatives. They're great for sports as well, since they fit very securely. Check out our review.

Hippo VB

The Hippo VB (Variable Bass) offers a serious subwoofer for on the go, right in your head. They don’t just deliver generous quantities of punchy, textured bass, but good audio quality over the whole frequency range with decent clarity and exceptional soundstage. Exchangeable bass ports let you customize their sound to your liking. Read our in-depth Hippo VB review.

Soundmagic E10 / E30

The Soundmagic E10 and E30 are basically right in the middle between the Phonak PFE and Hippo VB - not too analytical sounding, not too bass heavy. The E10 provide a bit more bass, the E30 a bit more clarity. Both come with a very fair price tag considering the sound quality they deliver - a great choice for the audio aficionado on a budget. Read our E10 and E30 reviews for more info.